OUR. 

NORTHERN 
DOMAIN 


ALASKA 

PICTURESQUE 
HISTORIC  AND 
COMMERCIAL 


NATIVK    ALASKAN    NBEDLEWOMAK. 


Our 
northern  Domain 

ALASKA 

PICTURESQUE,  HISTORIC 
AND  COMMERCIAL 


FULLY  ILLUSTRATED 


BOSTON 

DANA   ESTES  C&  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1910 
BY  DANA  ESTES  &  COMPANY 


All  rights  reserved 


Printed  by 

THE      COLONIAL      PRESS: 
C.  H.  Simonds  C&  Co.,  Boston,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGH 

I.  A  FLOUTED  GIFT      ..........         9 

II.     THE  DISCOVERY  OF  ALASKA 17 

III.  THE  RISE  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  -  AMERICAN  COMPANY     ....       24 

IV.  THE  FOUNDING  OF  SITKA 36 

V.  DECLINE  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  -  AMERICAN  COMPANY       .         .         .         .49 

VI.     ALASKA  BECOMES  UNITED  STATES  TERRITORY 55 

VII.     THE  MAGIC  WAND  OF  GOLD 70 

VIII.     OUTSIDERS  AND  INSIDERS  AT  NOME 82 

IX.  THE  VASTNESS  OF  ALASKA        ........       91 

X.  THE   NORTHWARD  PASSAGE       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .100 

XI.  WRANGEL  AND  THE  GLACIERS  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .106 

XII.  JUNEAU    AND     SKAGUAY        .             .             .             .             .             .             '.             .             .118 

XIII.     THE  MIGHTY  YUKON 129 

XIV.     REINDEER  AND  ESKIMOS .         .140 

XV.  ST.  MICHAEL'S  AND  NOME        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .154 

XVI.  SEALS,  SEA  -  LIONS  AND  WALRUS     .         .         .         .         .         .         .     160 

XVII.     SITKA 181 

XVIII.     A  SOUND  OF  GLACIERS     . 199 

XIX.       SUMMERLAND 209 

XX.  ROSARY  EMERALDS    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     JW7 

XXI.     A  MOUNTAIN  OF  FIRE 225 

XXII.  OUR  IMPERIAL  DOMAIN                                                                                      234 


271853 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

NATIVE  ALASKAN   NEEDLEWOMAN    .......        Frontispiece 

STREET  SCENE,  KETCHIKAN,  ALASKA      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .11 

LOOKING  ACROSS  THE  HARBOR  FROM  SKAGWAY  WHARVES         .         .         .         .21 

WINTER  DRESS  OF  ALASKANS.         .         .  .         .         .         .         .         .31 

BLOCK  HOUSE,  SITKA      ...........       42 

PACK  TRAIN  IN  Box  CANYON,  SKAGWAY  TRAIL      ......       59 

ESKIMO  AND  KAYAK  IN  THE  SURF 78 

LOOKING  UP  WHITE  PASS  SUMMIT   .........       95 

NATIVE  ALASKAN  IVORY  WORKER    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .114 

NATIVE  ALASKAN  BOAT  BUILDER     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .131 

UNLOADING  FREIGHT  AT  NOME       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .150 

WILD  RAPIDS  ON  A  MOUNTAIN  STREAM 167 

DAWSON,  PANORAMIC  VIEW 186 

OLD  RUSSIAN  TRADING  POST  AT  ALGANIK       .......     203 

A  NEW  CAMP  AFTER  A  GOLD  DISCOVERY 221 

HYDRAULIC  MINING  IN  ALASKA  231 


OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN 


ALASKA. 


CHAPTER   I. 

A   FLOUTED    GIFT. 

THE  fairy-godmother,  in  the  old  folk-story,  brings  the  new-born 
infant  a  crooked  coin,  even  more  than  insignificant  in  appear- 
ance ;  but  it  has  miraculous  powers,  and  when  put  to  the  test, 
multiplies  into  a  fortune.    Aladdin's  lamp  had  nothing  in  its  external 
aspect  to  indicate  that  when  rubbed  it  would  summon  the  aid  of  the 
all-powerful  Djinn  to  reveal  unmeasured  riches.    Such  a  gift,  at  first 
despised  and  ridiculed,  seemed  to  be  the  great  land  of  Alaska,  which, 
instead  of  consisting  wholly  of  glaciers  and  icebergs,  as  was  at  first 
generally  supposed  from  its  situation  in  the  far  north,  has  proved  to 
be  an  El  Dorado  of  fabulous  value. 

It  is  rather  amusing  and  instructive,  in  view  of  the  stream  of  gold 
and  other  precious  products,  pouring  in  an  ever-increasing  volume 
from  Alaska's  horn  of  plenty,  to  recall  some  of  the  predictions  and 
comments  that  were  made,  in  the  newspapers  and  in  Congress,  when 
the  proposed  purchase  of  this  imperial  domain  from  Russia  was  under 
discussion. 

In  the  debate  of  July,  1868,  the  Hon.  Hiram  Price  of  Iowa,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  after  animadverting  on  the  Hon.  N.  P. 
Banks 's  eloquent  plea  in  favor  of  Alaska,  said :  — 


10  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

"  By  a  movement  as  quick  and  a  change  as  sudden  as  ever  was  pro- 
duced by  Aladdin's  lamp,  we  were  standing  upon  the  margins  of  the 
inlets,  bays,  and  water  courses  of  Alaska.  There  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  pointed  out  to  me  the  fish  with  which  these  waters 
swarm ;  no  sir,  I  beg  pardon,  not  swarm ;  there  is  no  room  for  them 
to  swarm ;  they  are  piled  up,  fish  upon  fish,  pile  upon  pile  —  solid 
columns  of  fish;  no  human  arithmetic  can  compute  their  numbers. 
And,  sir,  such  fish  —  shad,  salmon,  cod,  —  according  to  the  description, 
a  foot  and  over  through  the  shoulders,  with  sides  and  tails  to  match. 
As  I  stood  there,  Mr.  Chairman,  listening  to  the  gentleman  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, with  fish  to  the  right  of  me,  fish  to  the  left  of  me,  fish  all 
in  front  of  me,  rolling  and  tumbling,  I  had  to  acknowledge  that  the  pic- 
ture as  painted  made  Alaska  a  good  country  for  fish. ' '  He  declared  that 
he  was  almost  ready  to  embrace  "  the  creations  of  this  splendid  fancy," 
until,  on  sober  second  thought,  stripping  it  of  the  "  trimming  and 
tinselry  in  which  his  imagery  had  clothed  it,"  there  remained  "  noth- 
ing but  a  cold,  forbidding,  ghastly,  grinning  skeleton,"  from  which  he 

11  turned  with  horror  and  disgust."    From  all  that  he  could  learn, 
Alaska  was,  in  the  language  of  an  impartial  historian,  "  very  moun- 
tainous and  volcanic,  with  a  climate  intensely  cold,  and  a  sterile  soil." 
He  ended  by  claiming  that  Russia  ought  to  be  allowed  to  remain  in 
peaceable  possession  of  Alaska  in   all   her   hideous  proportions  and 
native  cheerlessness,  with  her  icebergs,  her  volcanoes,  her  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty  days  in  the  year  of  clouds  and  storms,  her  harbors, 
streams,  Indians,  and  fish. 

Mr.  Schenck  of  the  House  declared  that  he  had  never  felt  his  imag- 
ination worked  upon  to  the  extent  of  according  to  the  bargain  that 
had  been  made,  anything  like  the  value  which  other  gentlemen  seemed 
to  find  in  it.  "  Perhaps,"  he  said,  "  if  anything  could  reconcile  my- 
self, or  any  man,  to  the  acquisition  of  the  Alaska  territory,  it  might 
be  found  in  the  weather  under  which  we  are  now  suffering,  and  that 
probably  is  a  more  earnest  argument  in  its  favor  than  almost  anything 
else  I  can  find  in  my  mind. "  That  was  July  14th,  1868. 


STREET    SCENE,    KETCHIKAN,     ALASKA. 


A    FLOUTED    GIFT.  13 

Mr.  Williams  of  Pennsylvania  called  it  "  a  miserable  property." 
He  went  on,  in  a  flow  of  sarcastic  eloquence,  which  was  amusing  then, 
but  almost  pathetic  now :  ' '  Never,  indeed,  in  the  annals  of  imposture, 
has  anything  been  witnessed  so  reckless  and  audacious  in  the  way  of 
invention  as  the  statements  which  have  been  manufactured  to  accom- 
plish this  object.  By  a  miracle  as  stupendous  as  that  of  Joshua  when 
he  held  the  sun  spellbound  on  Gibeon  and  the  moon  in  the  Valley  of 
Ajalon,  the  very  laws  of  nature  —  the  same  to  which  the  honorable 
Chairman  so  confidently  refers  —  are  not  only  suspended  but  over- 
turned at  the  bidding  of  the  wizard  Secretary.  The  pen  of  the  mer- 
cenary scribe  is  enlisted  to  furnish  material  for  the  statesman.  The 
Sybilline  leaves  of  these  oracular  personages,  this  hireling  priesthood 
of  the  press,  descend  in  showers  like  the  snowflakes  that  load  the  at- 
mosphere of  this  promised  land.  The  icy  barriers,  before  which  even 
the  giant  power  that  had  cleft  its  way  through  the  snows  of  Siberia 
to  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  were  obliged  to  recoil,  giving  way 
at  once.  The  frozen  rivers  bare  their  flowing  bosoms  to  the  embraces 
of  a  tropic  sun,  and  the  rugged  and  inaccessible  mountains  sink  down 
incontinently  into  the  verdant  shore  and  the  grassy  plain.  And  young 
America,  always  susceptible,  —  yes,  and  very  old  America,  too,  listen 
and  believe.  Already  they  hear,  or  think  they  hear,  the  screams  of 
the  American  eagle  from  the  peak  of  St.  Elias,  and  as  their  eyes  are 
skilfully  directed  to  the  exiled  banner  of  the  Union  drooping  discon- 
solately from  its  staff  amid  the  perpetual  rains  of  Sitka,  they  respond 
to  the  stirring  appeal  by  swearing  on  the  altar  of  the  god  Terminus 
that  it  shall  never  go  back,  even  though  the  elements  in  mutiny  may 
wage  eternal  war  around  it  and  against  it. 

11  Nay,  even  the  grave  Chairman,  to  whom  the  nation  looks  for  wise 
and  wary  counsel,  transported  by  the  glowing  vision,  is  rapt  in  ecstasy 
himself,  and  while  challenging  the  wild  fancy  that  peopled  Unalaska's 
shore  with  wolves,  finds  a  new  El  Dorado  among  the  icebergs  and 
volcanoes  of  this  new  Eden,  before  which  the  riches  of  ancient  Ophir 
and  the  marvels  of  Cathay  must  fade.  The  poet,  who  has  license 


14  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

as  the  statesman  has  not,  was  true  at  least  to  the  law  of  verisimilitude 
when  he  assigned  to  that  savage  beast  a  home  in  this  new  purchase 
for  which  he  could  imagine  no  other  inhabitant.  If  he  forgot  that 
there  are  regions  of  the  earth  where  even  a  wolf  could  not  subsist 
and  would  disdain  to  live,  he  has  atoned  at  least  for  the  error  of  the 
naturalist  in  the  glorious  rhythm  that  blends  so  well  the  dismal  howl 
of  that  animal  with  the  sullen  dash  of  the  breakers  upon  that  desolate 
shore.  But  what  is  there  in  the  way  of  license  here  to  compare  with 
the  inventive  genius  that  has  sown  the  gift  of  Ceres  among  the  driving 
mist  and  the  eternal  snows,  and  with  a  marvellous  alchemy,  transmuted 
the  sterile  rock  and  the  inaccessible  glacier  into  the  richest  of  metals 
and  the  most  priceless  of  gems  ?  .  .  .  . 

"  Rich  as  he  is  in  elocution,  the  powers  of  language  almost  fail  him 
in  his  endeavor  to  depict  the  varied  and  endless  resources  of  the  new 
acquisition.  Without  even  the  trouble  of  an  exploration,  he  gives  his 
hand  and  his  faith  implicitly  to  the  voracious  penny-a-liner,  who  guides 
him  to  the  mount  of  vision  and  there  unfolds  to  his  wondering  eyes 
the  mysteries  of  this  untrodden  and  enchanted  land.  He  sees,  not  with 
the  visual  orb,  but  as  Sancho  saw  his  Mistress,  by  hearsay,  in  this 
chaos  of  rock  and  mountain  and  wintry  flood,  a  boundless  area  of 
cultivable  land  that  only  awaits  the  surveyor  and  the  plow  to  be 
thronged  with  settlers  and  to  dimple  into  harvests;  timber  for  con- 
struction and  export,  huge  as  the  pines  hewn  on  Norwegian  hills,  to 
make  the  mast  of  some  great  admiral,  and  as  indestructible  as  the 
bodies  of  the  unburied  Eskimos  found  by  the  first  explorers  on  its 
northernmost  point,  which  laughed  the  worm  to  scorn  and  defied  alike 
the  tooth  of  time  and  of  the  polar  bear;  treasures  of  mineral  wealth 
deep  hid  from  mortal  eyes,  in  beds  of  coal,  and  ores  of  iron,  lead,  copper, 
silver,  and  even  gold,  with  probably  platinum,  and  possibly  diamonds ; 
forests  alive  with  fur-bearing  animals  just  waiting  to  ornament  the 
shoulders  of  some  Atlantic  belle ;  and  fishes  swarming  upon  the  coast, 
until  they  are  crowded  out  of  their  native  element  and  compelled  to 
pasture  upon  the  strand." 


A    FLOUTED    GIFT.  15 

Mr.  Williams,  in  his  eloquence,  came  nearer  to  the  truth  than  he 
dreamed. 

On  the  other  hand,  Charles  Sumner  and  William  H.  Seward,  whose 
greatest  claim  to  immortality  lies  in  their  advocacy  of  purchasing 
Alaska,  clearly  foresaw  the  possibilities  that  would  open  up  in  the 
exploration  of  the  vast  unknown  regions,  which,  since  their  day,  have 
a  million  times  justified  their  perspicacity.  Charles  Sumner,  who  was 
not  wholly  in  sympathy,  nevertheless  made  a  great  speech,  which,  by  its 
matter  of  fact  tone  and  by  its  overwhelming  array  of  facts,  did  much 
to  turn  the  tide  in  favor  of  this  speculation.  Speaking  of  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  the  mountains  of  the  Stikine  River,  not  far  in  the  interior 
from  Sitka,  he  said:  — "  Gold  has  been  found,  but  not  in  sufficient 
quantities  reasonably  accessible.  Nature  for  the  present  sets  up  ob- 
stacles ;  but  failure  in  one  place  will  be  no  discouragement  in  another, 
especially  as  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  mountains  here  contain 
a  continuation  of  those  auriferous  deposits  which  have  become  so 
famous  farther  south. ' ' 

The  peroration  of  his  plea  is  well  worth  reading.  After  piling  up 
his  unanswerable  arguments,  based  on  a  characteristically  thorough 
examination  of  all  the  literature  of  research  and  discovery,  he  uttered 
these  ringing  words :  —  "  As  these  extensive  possessions,  constituting 
a  corner  of  the  Continent,  pass  from  the  imperial  Government  of  Rus- 
sia they  will  naturally  receive  a  new  name.  They  will  be  no  longer 
Russian  America.  How  shall  they  be  called?  Clearly,  ajay  name 
borrowed  from  classical  history  or  from  individual  invention,  will 
be  little  better  than  a  misnomer  or  a  nickname  unworthy  of  such  an 
occasion.  Even  if  taken  from  our  own  history,  it  will  be  of  doubtful 
taste.  The  name  should  come  from  the  country  itself.  It  should  be 
indigenous,  aboriginal,  one  of  the  autochthons  of  the  soil.  Happily, 
such  a  name  exists,  which  is  as  proper  in  sound  as  in  origin.  It  ap- 
pears from  the  report  of  Cook,  the  illustrious  navigator,  to  whom  I 
have  so  often  referred,  that  the  euphonious  name  now  applied  to  the 
peninsula  which  is  the  continental  link  of  the  Aleutian  chain,  was 


16  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

the  rule  word  used  originally  by  the  native  islanders  when  speaking 
of  the  American  continent  in  general,  which  they  knew  perfectly  well 
to  be  a  great  land.  It  only  remains  that,  following  these  natives,  whose 
places  are  now  ours,  we,  too,  should  call  this  great  land,  Alaska.  .  .  . 
Your  best  work  and  most  important  endowment  will  be  the  Republican 
Government,  which,  looking  to  a  long  future,  you  will  organize  with 
schools  free  to  all,  and  with  equal  laws  before  which  every  citizen  will 
stand  erect  in  the  consciousness  of  manhood.  Here  will  be  a  motive 
power  without  which  coal  itself  will  be  insufficient.  Here  will  be  a 
source  of  wealth  more  inexhaustible  than  any  fisheries.  Bestow  such 
a  government  and  you  will  bestow  what  is  better  than  all  you  can 
receive,  whether  quintals  of  fish,  sands  of  gold,  choicest  fur,  or  most 
beautiful  wing." 

Still  more  prophetic  and  eloquent  were  the  orations  of  G«n.  N.  P. 
Banks  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  when  he  urged  Congress  to 
appropriate  money  to  pay  Russia  for  the  ceded  territory. 

Yet  as  late  as  November,  1877,  in  an  article  entitled  "  Ten  Years' 
Acquaintance  with  Alaska,"  Henry  W.  Elliott,  an  attache  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  published  in  "  Harper's  Weekly  "  a  pessimistic 
article  regarding  the  resources  of  that  country.  Speaking  of  the  Pur- 
chase arguments,  he  wrote :  —  * '  The  great  speech  of  Simmer  in  favor 
of  the  treaty,  and  which,  in  the  universal  ignorance  of  the  subject 
prevailing  in  the  American  mind  at  the  time  it  was  delivered,  was 
hailed  as  a  masterly  and  truthful  presentation  of  the  case,  is,  in  fact, 
as  rich  a  burlesque  upon  the  country  as  was  Proctor  Knott's  '  Duluth.' 
Sumner,  however,  meant  well,  but  he  was  easily  deceived  by  the  cunning 
advocates  of  the  purchase. ' ' 

The  truth  is  that  although  Sumner  made  no  mention  of  the  mar- 
vellous concentration  of  the  fur-bearing  seals  in  the  Bering  Sea,  his 
perspicacity  was,  in  many  of  his  predictions,  more  than  justified.  In 
a  dozen  different  industries  which  have  sprung  up  with  the  past  decade, 
the  returns  have  many  times  exceeded  the  petty  price  demanded  by 
Russia  for  this  noble  Empire  of  the  North. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE   DISCOVERY   OF   ALASKA. 

TWO  causes  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  region  now  called  Alaska ; 
the  first  was  the  search  for  the  North-west  passage,  the  second 
was  the  quest  of  fur-bearing  animals.  As  early  as  1648,  the 
Russian  Cossack  navigator,  Semyon  Deshnef,  hearing  that  a  tribe  far 
to  the  eastward  on  the  Polar  Ocean  had  plenty  of  ivory,  sailed  along 
the  northern  coast  of  Siberia,  rounded  Asia,  and  reached  the  Chukchi 
peninsula  by  the  body  of  water  now  called  Bering  Strait.  He  was  the 
first  to  discover  the  walrus  in  these  waters.  The  first  authentic  men- 
tion of  the  American  Continent  was  made  by  Peter  I.  Popof,  who,  in 
1711,  learned  from  the  wild  Chukchi  Indians  that  beyond  the  islands 
off  Siberia  lay  a  great  land  with  broad  rivers  and  inhabited  by  people 
who  had  tusks  growing  out  of  their  cheeks,  and  tails  like  dogs.  This 
evidently  referred  to  the  labrets  worn  in  the  face,  and  the  wolf  or 
dog  tails  attached  to  their  parkas  behind. 

The  Russian  Tsar,  Peter  the  Great,  interested  in  everything  that 
concerned  science  and  discovery,  shortly  before  his  death  in  1725,  wrote 
out  instructions  for  his  Chief  Admiral,  Count  Feodor  Apraksin,  to 
cause  to  be  built  at  Kamchatka,  or  some  other  convenient  place,  one 
or  more  decked  vessels*  to  explore  the  northerly  coasts  and  endeavor 
to  discover  whether  they  were  contiguous  with  America,  submitting 
exact  notes  of  whatever  discoveries  they  should  make.  Vitus  Bering, 
a  Dane,  who  had  shown  capacity  in  the  wars  with  Sweden,  was  ap- 
pointed to  take  charge  of  the  expedition.  After  extreme  hardships  in 
crossing  Siberia  by  land,  he  and  his  followers  reached  Kamchatka,  and 
in  boats  there  launched  they  sailed  along  the  eastern  coast  of  the  penin- 
sula, and  in  1728  discovered  and  named  St.  Lawrence  Island.  They 

17 


18  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

passed  through  Bering  Strait  and  proved  that  America  and  Asia  were 
separate  countries. 

The  discovery  of  Alaska  by  an  adventurer  named  Gvosdef,  in  1731, 
stimulated  to  further  explorations,  and  in  1733,  Bering,  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Empress  Anna  Ivanovna,  the  niece  of  Peter  the  Great, 
was  once  more  commissioned  to  take  charge  of  an  expedition  from 
Kamchatka.  There  were  long  and  annoying  delays,  but  at  last,  in 
September,  1740,  Bering,  in  the  ship  "  St.  Peter,"  accompanied  by 
the  '  *  St.  Paul  ' '  under  command  of  Lieutenant  Chirikof ,  who  had  been 
with  him  in  the  first  voyage,  set  sail.  They  were  soon  beset  by  winter, 
and  established  themselves  at  Avatcha,  where  they  built  a  few  houses 
and  a  church,  naming  the  settlement  after  the  two  ships,  Petropavlovsk. 
Early  in  the  following  June,  they  once  more  weighed  anchor,  but  on 
the  twentieth  a  gale  separated  the  two  ships.  Chirikof 's  went  to  the 
eastward,  and  on  the  fifteenth  of  July  sighted  land.  He  sent  ten  men 
ashore,  under  command  of  Abraham  Mikhailovich  Dementief,  a  young 
nobleman,  who,  having  been  disappointed  in  love,  had  volunteered 
for  this  dangerous  service.  After  they  had  been  absent  for  five  days, 
another  boat  was  despatched  with  six  men  to  look  for  the  first  party. 
Those  left  on  the  ship  soon  observed  a  black  smoke  rising  above  the 
point  of  land  behind  which  the  boats  had  disembarked. 

The  next  morning,  the  anxious  company  on  board  were  gladdened 
by  the  sight  of  what  they  thought  were  the  two  boats  approaching. 
Their  joy  was  turned  to  horror  when  it  was  seen  that  the  two  boats 
were  filled  with  savages.  These  turned  about  at  the  sight  of  the  ship, 
and  shouting  <  *  Agai !  Agai !  "  made  for  the  shore.  A  gale  blew  up,  and 
Chirikof  was  obliged  to  put  out  into  the  open  sea.  When  the  storm 
had  subsided,  he  returned  to  his  former  anchorage,  but  had  no  means 
of  reaching  land.  The  fate  of  the  missing  men  was  never  determined 
but  it  can  be  easily  surmised.  Chirikof,  crippled  as  he  was,  was  com- 
pelled to  return  to  Kamchatka.  His  men  suffered  terrible  hardships ; 
their  provisions  and  water  were  exhausted,  all  on  board  were  ill  with 
scurvy,  and  they  lost  altogether  twenty-one  men. 


THE    DISCOVERY    OF    ALASKA.  19 

Bering,  on  the  sixteenth  of  July,  caught  sight  of  the  magnificent 
snow-clad  mountain  range,  of  which  St.  Elias,  rising  to  a  height  of 
18,000  feet  above  the  sea,  is  the  crown.  George  Wilhelm  Steller,  a 
German  naturalist,  who  accompanied  the  expedition  and  left  an  excel- 
lent account  of  what  he  saw,  claimed  to  have  discovered  land  on  the 
day  preceding,  but  his  claim  was  ridiculed  by  his  companions.  A  land- 
ing was  made  on  what  is  now  known  as  Kayak  Island.  After  delaying 
several  days,  and  finding  a  number  of  unoccupied  huts  built  of  logs 
and  bark  and  thatched  with  coarse  grasses,  together  with  dried  salmon, 
copper  implements,  and  other  indications  of  former  occupancy,  Bering, 
without  attempting  to  proceed  farther,  turned  about.  On  his  voyage 
back,  he  discovered  and  named  a  number  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  where 
they  found  friendly  natives,  with  whom  they  exchanged  gifts.  The 
name  Aleutian  is  supposed  to  have  been  suggested  by  Cape  Alintorsky 
in  Siberia,  which,  according  to  native  tradition,  was  continued  into  a 
chain  of  islands  stretching  away  toward  the  east.  The  ships  were 
buffeted  by  terrific  tempests,  and  so  many  of  the  crew  perished  of 
illness  and  deprivations  that  the  survivors  had  difficulty  in  navigating 
their  ships  back  to  the  Asiatic  coast.  There  they  had  the  misfortune 
to  be  wrecked  on  a  small  island,  which  now  bears  the  name  of  their 
famous  commander.  Here,  on  the  eighth  of  December,  in  a  hut  so 
exposed  to  the  elements  that  it  hardly  deserved  to  be  called  a  shelter, 
Bering  died  of  scurvy,  after  suffering  unutterable  agonies.  His  com- 
panions, after  spending  the  winter  in  holes  dug  in  the  sand  dunes  and 
roofed  with  canvas,  their  only  food  sea-otters  and  seals,  constructed 
a  boat  from  the  wreck  of  the  "  St.  Peter,"  and  managed  to  reach  the 
mainland. 

The  result  of  the  discoveries  of  Bering  and  Chirikof  was  that  many 
expeditions  were  fitted  out  for  fishing  and  hunting  along  the  American 
coast.  These  traders  were  called  "  promui'shleniki,"  the  word  sig- 
nifying traders  or  adventurers.  They  pushed  farther  and  farther  east- 
ward. Such  were  Emelian  Basof ,  who  made  four  consecutive  voyages ; 
one  of  Bering's  companions  named  Nevodchikof ;  and  Aleksei  Belaief, 


20  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

who,  in  1745,  inveigled  fifteen  of  the  gentle  Aleuts  into  a  quarrel  for 
the  express  purpose  of  killing  them,  maltreating  their  wives,  and  rob- 
bing them  of  their  furs.  Similar  outrages  were  perpetrated  by  many 
others  of  these  irresponsible  and  brutal  adventurers.  In  1759,  a  pro- 
mui'shleniki  named  Glottof  discovered  the  large  island  of  Umnak,  and 
subsequently  skirted  the  extensive  group  of  islands  including  Una- 
laska.  On  account  of  the  foxes  abounding  there,  he  called  this  archi- 
pelago, the  Fox  Islands.  Glottof  is  reputed  to  have  been  the  first  to 
baptize  the  natives;  he  also  furnished  his  government  with  the  first 
Russian  map  of  that  region.  Glottof  reached  the  island  of  Kadiak 
in  the  autumn  of  1762,  and  took  up  his  quarters  there  for  the  winter. 
The  natives,  who  had  at  first  been  very  gentle  and  patient  under  the 
outrageous  demands  of  the  traders,  had  begun  to  rebel.  They  attacked 
Glottof 's  settlement,  but  were  repulsed  by  the  Russians;  after  that 
they  kept  aloof  and  refused  to  trade.  Later  in  the  winter,  discovering 
that  the  invaders  were  weakened  by  disease,  they  renewed  their  at- 
tacks and  almost  exterminated  them.  Glottof  escaped  only  with  the 
greatest  difficulty.  The  same  year,  a  merchant,  Druzhinin,  arrived 
at  Unalaska,  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  was  attacked  by  the 
natives,  who,  at  a  signal,  arose  and  killed  all  of  his  followers  but  four, 
who  happened  to  be  absent,  and  were  protected  by  a  kindly  Aleut. 

The  treatment  of  the  natives  by  the  adventurers  hardly  corresponded 
to  the  wishes  of  the  Empress  Catharine  II.,  who,  in  expressing  her 
satisfaction  at  the  reported  subjection  of  the  six  new  Aleutian  Islands 
by  the  Cossack  Vasiutin  and  his  followers,  said  in  her  ukase  to  the 
Governor  of  Siberia :  —  "  You  must  urge  the  promui'shleniki  to  treat 
the  natives  with  kindness,  and  to  avoid  all  oppression  or  ill  treatment 
of  their  new  brethren."  She  also  urged  the  governor  to  glean  all 
possible  information  regarding  the  country.  In  response  to  this  wish, 
the  Admiralty  College  selected  two  captains,  Krenitsin  and  Levashef, 
who  sailed  from  Kamchatka  in  1768,  and  attempted  to  make  explora- 
tions and  gather  scientific  details  about  the  land  and  the  people.  But 
they  had  difficulty  with  the  savages,  and,  after  losing  a  third  of  their 


THE    DISCOVERY    OF    ALASKA.  23 

forces  through  scurvy  and  the  arrows  of  their  enemies,  they  returned 
to  Siberia.  The  profits  of  the  trading  and  hunting  expeditions  were 
very  great,  and  there  are  records  of  more  than  sixty  such  enterprises. 
The  profits  were  generally  divided  equally  between  the  owners  of  the 
vessels  and  the  crews;  each  sailor  had  one  share,  and  the  navigator 
and  commanders  had  two  each.  A  tenth  of  the  whole  was  exacted  as 
a  tax  by  the  government. 

The  natives  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  their  oppressors  were  com- 
pelled to  do  the  hunting  and  to  turn  over  their  booty,  receiving  as  a 
reward  a  few  cheap  trinkets,  or  a  bit  of  tobacco.  They  thus  became 
practically  slaves.  The  horrors  of  their  condition  form  the  dark  back- 
ground of  Alaskan  history.  The  story  of  the  revenge  wreaked  by  the 
cruel  Soloviof  for  the  slaughter  of  such  Eussians  as  were  killed  by  the 
natives,  when  they  at  last  were  goaded  into  rebellion,  is  only  one  chap- 
ter of  this  tale  of  violence. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   KISE    OF   THE   KUSSIAN  -  AMERICAN    COMPANY. 

A   CHANGE  for  the  better  occurred  when  the  Siberian  merchant, 
Grigor  Ivanovitch  Shelikhof,  recognizing  that  the  unwise  treat- 
ment of  the  natives  was  causing  a  diminution  of  the  fur-prod- 
ucts, formed  a  partnership  with  two  other  merchants,  named  Golikof, 
to  "  sail  for  the  Alaskan  land  called  America  and  for  known  and  un- 
known islands,  to  carry  on  the  fur  trade  and  explorations,  .and  to 
establish  friendly  intercourse  with  the  natives. ' ' 

Three  galiots,  bearing  the  extremely  pious  names  of  "  Three  Saints, " 
"  Archangel  Michael,"  and  "  Simeon  the  Friend  of  God,  and  Anna 
the  Prophetess,"  were  fitted  out  at  Okhotsk  and  set  sail  in  August, 
1783.  Shelikhof  and  his  wife,  Natali,  took  part  in  the  expedition.  As 
usual,  storms  separated  the  vessels,  but,  after  a  year's  separation, 
they  brought  up  together  in  a  harbor  of  the  island  of  Kadiak.  A  native 
was  found  and  treated  so  kindly  by  Shelikhof  that  he  attached  himself 
to  the  ship,  and  several  times  did  great  service  in  warning  the  Russians 
of  hostile  attacks.  A  large  body  of  natives  threatened  to  exterminate 
the  Russians  unless  they  immediately  evacuated  the  island.  Shelikhof 
tried  to  treat  with  them  but  his  words  had  no  effect,  and  a  few  nights 
later  the  natives  made  a  desperate  attack  on  the  Russians,  who  were 
prepared  for  them,  however,  and,  after  a  pitched  battle,  caused  them 
to  retreat.  Shelikhof  made  up  his  mind  that  he  must  exterminate 
them  before  they  secured  reinforcements,  and,  with  a  picked  band,  sup- 
ported by  two-pounder  cannon,  stormed  their  stronghold,  which  the 
natives  supposed  was  impregnable.  It  was  a  desperate  battle,  but 
Shelikhof 's  superior  skill  won  the  victory.  Many  were  either  killed 
or  drowned  by  leaping  over  the  precipice  into  the  sea.  Those  that 

24 


THE    RISE    OF    THE    RUSSIAN -AMERICAN    COMPANY.  25 

surrendered  were  converted  into  hunters  for  the  Company,  and  their 
future  good  behavior  secured  by  keeping  twenty  children  of  the  most 
prominent  as  hostages. 

All  fear  of  further  attack  being  thus  removed,  Shelikhof  proceeded 
to  organize  his  trading  and  exploring  enterprises.  In  some  of  these 
he  met  with  a  fair  measure  of  success ;  in  others,  he  found  the  natives 
hostile  or  suspicious.  One  small  party  established  friendly  relations 
with  the  native  chief  of  Shuiak,  the  northernmost  island  of  the  Kadiak 
Archipelago.  This  chief  proved  treacherous ;  he  retained  the  trading- 
goods  furnished  him  by  Shelikhof,  and  also  made  an  alliance  with  the 
Kenaitze  Indians  of  Cook's  Inlet.  Shelikhof  was  obliged  to  administer 
a  severe  castigation  to  these  natives,  but  he  carried  out  his  plans.  An- 
other of  his  subordinate  expeditions  went  to  the  Gulf  of  Chugach  (now 
known  as  Prince  William  Sound)  and  the  Copper  Eiver  region,  but 
the  natives  there  were  found  to  be  averse  to  trading  with  the  Eussians. 
Not  much  more  was  done  than  to  erect  crosses  and  other  insignia  to 
warn  explorers  of  other  nations  that  the  country  had  been  taken  under 
the  Eussian  possession.  In  many  places  these  notifications  were  es- 
tablished where  Spanish  and  English  explorers  had  already  erected 
similar  warnings. 

While  Shelikhof  was  carrying  on  his  active  explorations,  and  also, 
with  the  aid  of  his  wife,  was  making  great  strides  in  converting  the 
natives  to  Christianity,  his  partner  Golikof  had  been  making  a  visit 
to  his  native  town  of  Kursk.  The  Empress  happened  to  pass  through 
the  town,  and  Golikof  secured  an  audience  with  her.  He  showed  the 
charts  and  plans  that  Shelikhof  had  made.  She  was  greatly  interested 
in  all  that  she  heard,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  see  Shelikhof  personally 
whenever  he  should  be  in  Petersburg. 

Shelikhof,  having  established  his  little  colony  and  provided  for  fur- 
ther explorations,  proceeded  to  Okhotsk,  where  he  laid  before  the  Gov- 
ernor Yakoby  a  detailed  report  of  his  discoveries,  claiming  that  he 
had  added  fifty  thousand  new  subjects  to  the  Empire,  and  asking  for 
instructions  as  to  his  future  course.  Yakoby  was  greatly  impressed 


26  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

by  these  claims,  and  sent  despatches  to  the  Empress.  In  consequence 
of  what  she  had  heard,  two  expeditions  were  ordered  to  be  fitted  out 
for  further  explorations  in  these  far  distant  regions.  One  was  pre- 
vented by  the  war  between  Russia  and  Sweden;  the  second  was  put 
under  the  command  of  an  Englishman  by  the  name  of  Billings,  who 
was  instructed  to  pay  especial  attention  to  the  American  coast.  This 
expedition  did  not  sail  until  1790. 

Yakoby,  in  his  letters,  declared  that  he  deemed  it  sufficient  to  secure 
Russia  in  her  new  possessions,  to  place  in  position  thirty  large  copper- 
plates with  the  Russian  coat  of  arms,  and  a  quantity  of  wooden  crosses, 
that  should  bear  inscriptions  claiming  the  land.  He  had  suggestions 
to  make  regarding  the  tribute  to  be  paid  by  the  natives,  and  he  craftily 
urged  that  as  long  as  irresponsible  traders  wandered  at  will  over  the 
country,  and  were  allowed  to  treat  the  natives  as  they  pleased,  there 
would  be  great  irregularities;  whereas,  Shelikhof  had  carried  on  his 
enterprises  with  humane  and  patriotic  principles,  and  had  always  pro- 
claimed that  all  he  did  was  "  in  the  name  and  for  the  glory  of  her 
Majesty,  the  Empress."  He,  therefore,  urged  the  Empress  to  grant 
the  Company  represented  by  Shelikhof  and  his  partners  a  monopoly, 
so  that  "  the  interests  of  the  Crown  and  of  the  new  subjects  would 
always  be  duly  considered,  while  the  lawless  hordes  of  Siberian  pro- 
mui'shleniki  and  convicts  would  be  driven  from  the  country."  He 
was  not  particular  to  state  that  he  was  among  those  who  were  furnish- 
ing the  additional  capital  needed  by  Shelikhof. 

The  Department  of  Commerce,  at  the  command  of  the  Empress,  took 
into  consideration  the  recommendations  of  the  Governor  of  Siberia  and 
the  petition  of  Shelikhof  and  his  partner,  and  after  declaring  that 
"  the  prosecution  of  Shelikhof 's  enterprise  was  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance to  Russia  on  account  of  the  interruption  of  the  trade  with  China, 
whereby  great  loss  was  caused  to  all  Siberia  and  a  pernicious  influence 
exerted  on  Russian  commerce,"  suggested  that  the  firm  in  question 
should  be  granted  the  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  rubles  for  twenty 
years,  without  interest,  and  exempt  from  taxation.  Two  hundred 


THE    RISE    OF    THE    RUSSIAN  -  AMERICAN    COMPANY.  27 

thousand  rubles  was  not  a  very  great  sum,  and  it  was  probably  granted. 
The  Empress  was  pleased  to  confer  upon  the  two  merchants  a  sword, 
and  a  gold  medal  to  be  worn  around  the  neck,  with  her  portrait  on 
one  side,  and  a  legend  on  the  other  stating  that  it  was  conferred  upon 
them  in  consideration  of  their  services  in  the  discovery  and  settlement 
of  unknown  countries  and  the  establishment  of  commercial  intercourse 
with  native  tribes. 

Shelikhof,  on  his  return  to  Irkutsk,  immediately  organized  further 
exploring  expeditions.  One  went  to  the  Kuril  Islands,  and  another 
to  the  Aleutian  Islands,  with  instructions  to  effect  a  settlement  as  far 
south  on  the  mainland  as  possible.  In  1788,  he  sent  his  ship  "  Three 
Saints,"  under  two  experienced  navigators,  to  the  Gulf  of  Chugach, 
where  they  bought  a  quantity  of  sea-otter  skins  in  exchange  for  a  few 
needles  and  beads  —  the  profit,  of  course,  being  enormous.  They  also 
increased  their  influence  by  decorating  the  neighboring  chiefs  with 
copper  and  bronze  medals,  but  it  is  said  that  their  attempt  to  set  up 
the  copper  tablets,  asserting  their  claim  to  the  land,  proved  abortive, 
as  the  natives  immediately  pilfered  the  metal. 

At  Bering  Bay,  now  called  Yakutat,  the  head  chief  was  presented 
with  a  portrait  of  the  Grand  Duke  Paul  Petrovtich,  but  the  natives 
stated,  a  year  later,  that  as  soon  as  the  "  Three  Saints  "  set  sail,  they 
burnt  the  grand  duke's  picture  with  great  rejoicings. 

In  1786,  a  determined  fur  hunter,  named  Gerasim  Pribilof,  made 
the  important  discovery  of  the  summer  resort  of  the  otary  or  fur-seal, 
located  on  a  group  of  small  islands  about  two  hundred  miles  from  the 
Alaskan  mainland  and  equidistant  from  Unalaska  and  Saint  Matthew 
Island.  Millions  of  these  strange  and  interesting  animals  would  '  *  haul 
out  "  on  their  rookeries  on  the  two  principal  islands,  Saint  George  and 
Saint  Paul.  The  story  told  by  Pribilof  and  his  companions  soon  came 
to  the  ears  of  Shelikhof  and  made  him  still  more  desirous  of  securing 
a  monopoly.  There  was  only  one  important  rival  whom  he  had  to  fear, 
the  other  smaller  companies  having  failed  through  the  protection  ac- 
corded to  Shelikhof  by  the  Government.  The  Lebedef-Lastochkin  Com- 


28  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

pany  had  stations  on  both  the  islands  and  the  mainland,  and  they  em- 
ployed able  navigators.  Indeed,  Pribilof  was  in  their  employ  when 
he  made  his  great  discovery.  Shelikhof,  however,  had  bought  up  a 
good  many  shares  in  the  rival  company,  and  Lebedef  was  also  a  silent 
partner  with  Shelikhof.  In  spite  of  this  mutual  copartnership,  actual 
hostilities  were  constantly  breaking  out  between  the  men  employed  by 
these  friendly  rivals.  It  took  the  proportions  of  a  civil  war,  and  had 
a  terrible  effect  on  the  natives,  who  often  exterminated  the  weaker 
faction. 

Shelikhof  was  shrewd  enough  to  realize  that  the  only  hope  for  his 
Company  was  to  put  its  Alaskan  affairs  under  the  control  of  a  mas- 
terful spirit,  and  such  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  in  Aleksandr 
Andreyevitch  Baranof,  a  merchant  of  Kargopol,  who  had  attracted 
attention  by  his  immense  energy  and  success  in  managing  his  own 
affairs.  He  was  a  man  of  small  stature  but  iron  will,  with  extraordi- 
nary powers  of  endurance  and  capacity  in  the  control  of  his  subordi- 
nates. Baranof,  at  first,  preferring  his  independence,  refused  Shel- 
ikhof's  offers,  but  after  meeting  with  experiences  similar  to  those 
ascribed  to  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  in  having  his  caravans  destroyed 
and  his  argosies  plundered,  though  in  his  case  by  savage  Chukchi,  he 
came  to  terms  with  Shelikhof  on  the  18th  of  August,  1790,  and  set  sail 
for  Kadiak.  He  was  furnished  with  detailed  instructions  regarding 
his  dealing  with  the  traders  of  other  nations. 

The  Russian  Government  had  ordered  the  Shelikhof  Company  to 
prevent  the  seizure  by  foreign  powers  of  any  of  the  territory  occu- 
pied by  the  Russian  traders,  or  the  lands  and  islands  that  might  be 
acquired  by  them  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Captain  James  Cook  had  made 
his  celebrated  voyage  along  the  North  American  coast  as  far  north  as 
Icy  Cape  in  Bering  Strait,  and  had,  in  1778,  taken  possession  of  various 
points  on  the  inlet  which  now  bears  his  name.  He  had  spent  some 
days  on  Unalaska.  Other  English  explorers  had  followed  in  his  wake 
and  carried  on  their  trading  expeditions  even  to  Kadiak.  English 
traders  had  settled  at  Nutka  on  Vancouver  Island,  and  were  alert  to 


THE    RISE    OF    THE    RUSSIAN -AMERICAN    COMPANY.  29 

take  advantage  of  their  position.  The  French  explorer,  Comte  de  la 
Perouse,  had,  in  1785,  made  his  celebrated  voyage  to  the  northwest 
coast,  renaming  Lituya  Bay,  —  Port  des  Francais,  —  and  giving  his 
name  to  the  strait  which  he  sailed  through  at  such  peril.  The  Span- 
iards also  had  made  many  geographical  discoveries  and  given  names 
to  various  points  and  islands.  Baranof  was  ordered  to  remove  and 
destroy  every  vestige  of  these  foreign  claims,  and  to  drive  the  English 
away  from  Nutka,  if  possible. 

His  first  task  was  the  settlement  of  the  difficulties  with  the  two  Rus- 
sian traders,  Kolomin,  a  cruel  Siberian,  who  was  treating  the  natives 
atrociously,  and  Captain  Konovalof,  in  the  employ  of  the  Lebedef- 
Lastochkin  Company,  who  were  at  war  with  each  other  on  Cook's 
Inlet.  He  seized  them  both,  flogged  them  with  the  knout,  put  them  in 
irons,  and  sent  them  to  Siberia  for  trial ;  their  followers  he  scattered 
about  at  the  various  posts,  where  they  could  not  communicate  with 
one  another. 

He  soon  discovered  that  the  site  selected  by  Shelikhof  on  Kadiak 
Island  was  ill  adapted  for  the  larger  operations  which  he  had  in  view, 
and  he  moved  his  headquarters  to  the  harbor  of  St.  Paul,  where  there 
was  ample  anchorage  for  vessels,  and  plenty  of  timber  for  building 
purposes.  This  having  been  accomplished,  Baranof  despatched  Cap- 
tain Bokharof,  a  trustworthy  and  skilful  navigator,  to  make  further 
explorations.  Bokharof  followed  the  coast  of  the  mainland  to  the 
north,  and  discovered  the  portage  route,  which  gives  the  quickest  and 
safest  means  of  communication  between  the  Strait  of  Shelikhof  and 
Bering  Sea.  He  returned  to  St.  Paul  Harbor,  his  skin-covered  boat 
heavy-laden  with  furs,  walrus-ivory,  and  deerskins.  He  had  won  the 
good-will  of  many  native  tribes  and  their  chiefs,  who  expressed  their 
willingness  to  trade  with  the  Russians. 

In  the  spring  of  1793,  Baranof  set  out  with  thirty  men  in  two  large 
skin  boats,  and  after  rounding  Kenai  Peninsula,  entered  the  waters  of 
Prince  William  Sound,  where  he  also  formed  friendly  compacts  with 
the  natives.  At  Nuchek  Harbor  he  was  surprised  by  a  large  force  of 


30  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

Thlinkit  Indians,  or,  as  the  Russians  called  them,  Koloshi,  who  almost 
accomplished  their  purpose  of  massacring  the  whole  command.  Ba- 
ranof's  skill  as  a  commander  and  the  Russians'  superiority  in  arms 
prevailed.  The  enemy  retired  taking  their  wounded  and  leaving 
twelve  dead  on  the  field.  Two  of  the  Russians  and  nine  Aleuts  were 
killed  and  almost  a  score  were  wounded.  Baranof  described  the  en- 
counter with  the  simplicity  of  the  hero :  —  "  God  preserved  me,  though 
my  shirt  was  pierced  by  several  spears,  and  the  arrows  fell  thick,  with- 
out doing  much  damage.  I  was  awakened  from  a  sound  sleep  and  had 
no  time  to  dress,  but  as  soon  as  I  had  emerged  from  my  tent  I  knew 
that  we  should  be  able  to  beat  them." 

Baranof  built  the  first  vessel  to  be  launched  in  the  waters  of  the 
northwest.  Shelikhof,  in  the  autumn  of  1791,  sent  to  Kadiak  the  ship 
"  Northern  Eagle  "  laden  with  iron,  cordage,  canvas,  and  other  ship- 
building material.  He  put  it  under  the  charge  of  an  English  ship- 
wright, named  Shields,  whose  services  he  engaged.  Baranof  selected 
Voskresensky,  or  Resurrection  Bay,  on  the  coast  of  Prince  William 
Sound,  for  his  shipyard,  and  there  in  the  summer  of  1794  was  launched 
the  two-decked  three-master,  the  "  Feniks  "  or  "  Phoenix,"  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty  tons  capacity.  She  was  seventy-three  feet  long 
and  twenty-three  feet  beam.  Yellow  spruce  of  fine  quality  abounded 
on  Kadiak,  but  as  paint  and  tar  were  lacking,  the  "  Phoenix  "  was 
smeared  with  a  coating  of  spruce  gum,  ochre,  and  whale  oil.  Two 
other  small  vessels  were  also  built  and  launched  —  the  "  Dolphin  " 
and  the  * '  Olga. ' '  The  *  *  Phoenix, ' '  on  its  way  to  Kadiak,  came  to  grief 
in  a  storm,  and  had  to  be  towed  into  the  harbor ;  but  she  was  repaired 
and  refitted,  and  made  a  memorable  voyage  to  the  Siberian  coast,  where 
she  was  received  with  a  religious  celebration  worthy  of  the  pious  Shel- 
ikhof. 

The  same  year,  the  famous  English  explorer,  Captain  George  Van- 
couver, appeared  in  those  far  northern  waters.  Baranof,  following 
instructions,  kept  aloof  from  him.  The  Russian  Government,  above 
all  things,  desired  to  hide  its  plans  from  inquisitive  eyes.  Baranof 


WINTER    DRESS    OF    ALASKANS. 


THE    RISE    OF    THE    RUSSIAN  -  AMERICAN    COMPANY.  33 

also  was  afraid  lest  his  ship-builder,  Shields,  might  be  induced  to  rejoin 
his  fellow-countrymen. 

The  year  1794  saw  the  arrival  of  the  first  Russian  priests.  Shelikhof, 
who  was  a  zealous  proselyter,  had  been  for  some  years  urging  the  Gov- 
ernment to  establish  a  mission  among  the  natives,  and  finally  his  pleas 
had  their  effect.  The  Archimandrite  Ivasof,  with  seven  popes  and 
two  laymen,  arrived  by  way  of  Okhotsk,  and  at  once  began  their  active 
work.  One  priest  went  to  Unalaska  and  converted  and  baptized  nearly 
all  the  Aleutian  tribes.  Another,  Father  Juvenal,  who  went  into  the 
Ilyamna  region,  attacked  the  polygamous  practices  of  the  natives,  and, 
arousing  their  enmity,  was  slain.  A  third,  named  Germand,  estab- 
lished a  school  on  Spruce  Island  in  the  Harbor  of  St.  Paul,  and  for 
more  than  forty  years  labored  faithfully,  instructing  the  native  chil- 
dren in  the  principles  of  religion  and  in  useful  pursuits.  The  Archi- 
mandrite, a  few  years  later,  was  ordained  at  Irkutsk  as  Bishop  of 
the  new  Russian  possessions  on  the  Pacific.  On  his  way  back  from 
Siberia,  in  company  with  a  number  of  ecclesiastics,  his  ship,  the  ' '  Phre- 
nix,"  foundered  and  all  were  lost. 

Shelikhof  also  petitioned  for  a  number  of  Siberian  convicts  to  be 
sent  to  Alaska,  together  with  their  families,  to  establish  an  agricultural 
settlement.  A  company  of  more  than  two  hundred  were  sent  from 
Okhotsk,  and  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Yakutat ;  or,  if  they  were  prac- 
tical mechanics,  scattered  among  the  various  stations  of  the  Company. 

During  this  same  year,  another  important  event  happened  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Company.  The  Chinese  Government  informed  the 
Governor  of  Siberia  that  the  merchants  of  China  were  desirous  of  re- 
suming the  trade  which  had  been  so  long  interrupted  between  the  Rus- 
sians and  themselves,  and  that  especial  concessions  would  be  granted. 
The  Chinese  were  particularly  fond  of  the  fur-seal  skins,  which  they 
cured  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  themselves.  The  great  increase  in  pro- 
duction of  these,  through  the  discovery  of  the  Pribilof  Islands,  made 
it  clear  to  Shelikhof  that  there  was  going  to  be  a  revival  of  that  profit- 
able trade  with  China.  He  did  not  live  to  see  the  results  that  he  an- 


34  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

ticipated.  He  died  in  July,  1795,  having  been  recently  ennobled  by 
the  Empress  Catharine.  His  wife,  however,  remained  in  Siberia,  and 
carried  on  his  affairs  with  remarkable  ability.  She  knew  of  his  plan 
for  consolidating  the  various  companies  trading  in  Siberia  and  the  re- 
gions of  Alaska,  and  aided  by  her  son-in-law,  Count  Nikolai  Riazanof, 
who  occupied  an  influential  position  at  Court,  the  charter  was  granted 
in  1799  by  the  Emperor  Paul,  who  had  at  first  opposed  such  a  monop- 
oly as  it  created.  The  Shelikhof  United  Company  now  called  itself 
the  Russian- American  Company,  and  secured  for  a  period  of  twenty 
years  full  privileges  on  the  coast  of  North-western  America,  begin- 
ning with  latitude  55  degrees  North,  and  including  the  chain  of  islands 
from  Kamchatka  northward  to  America  and  southward  to  Japan,  as 
well  as  the  exclusive  right  to  all  enterprises,  whether  hunting,  trading, 
or  building,  and  all  new  discoveries  that  might  be  made.  On  the  other 
hand,  all  persons  who  had  formerly  had  ships  and  establishments  there, 
and  all  new  comers,  were  strictly  excluded. 

These  privileges  carried  with  them  onerous  obligations.  The  Com- 
pany was  required  to  maintain,  at  its  own  expense,  the  government 
of  the  country,  the  Church  establishment,  the  support  of  a  strong  mili- 
tary force,  and  magazines  of  provisions  and  ammunition  to  be  used 
by  the  Government  ships  or  armies  in  case  they  should  be  needed.  It 
had  also  to  establish  experiment  stations  for  agricultural  settlements. 
It  had  no  taxes  to  pay,  but  was  obliged  to  collect  duties  on  caravan 
tea,  and  it  is  said  that  these  amounted  in  some  years  to  not  less  than 
two  million  rubles.  The  Company  had  its  own  flag,  and  exercised 
almost  imperial  powers.  It  was  managed  by  an  administrative  council 
composed  of  shareholders  in  Petersburg;  there  was  a  general  office 
at  Irkutsk,  and  a  chief  manager,  who  had  to  be  an  officer  of  the  Imperial 
navy :  this  official  had  full  jurisdiction  over  all  offenders  and  criminals, 
and  in  case  of  mutiny  or  revolution,  his  powers  were  absolute.  Sal- 
aries, except  to  the  chiefs,  were  small,  and  as  the  employees  were 
engaged  for  a  term  of  years,  and  were  not  allowed  to  return  in  case 
they  were  in  debt  to  the  Company  —  as  they  usually  were  —  the  sub- 


THE    RISE    OF    THE    RUSSIAN -AMERICAN    COMPANY.  35 

ordinates  were  in  a  state  approaching  serfdom.  The  natives  were  not 
taxed  but  were  obliged  to  furnish  a  certain  quantity  of  sea-otter  yearly ; 
all  the  men  of  the  various  tribes  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  fifty 
were  obliged  to  engage  in  this  labor. 

The  shares  that  were  put  on  sale  in  Russia  were  bought  up  by  wealthy 
nobles ;  even  the  Emperor  and  other  members  of  the  Imperial  family 
found  it  to  their  interest  to  participate  in  this  promising  investment. 


CHAPTEK   IV. 

THE   FOUNDING    OF    SITKA. 

BAKANOF  was  still  engaged  in  extending  the  enterprises  of  the 
Company.  In  the  year  of  the  charter,  he  embarked  on  the  brig 
"  Catharine,"  and  convoyed  by  a  fleet  of  Immit  bidarkas,  sailed 
to  the  region  of  Sitka,  which  had  already  been  explored  by  Captain 
Shields.  Sitka,  which  is  situated  about  a  hundred  miles  south  of 
the  latitude  of  Petersburg,  seemed  to  him  a  suitable  place  for  a  per- 
manent settlement,  because  thither  came  many  ships  with  which  he 
could  trade  and  thereby  secure  supplies.  About  six  miles  from  the 
present  town  of  Sitka,  he  began  to  build  a  fortified  trading-post,  with 
log-houses  all  surrounded  by  a  high  stockade.  While  his  men  were 
busy  with  this  work,  a  number  of  American  trading-ships  came  into 
port,  and,  under  Baranof 's  very  eyes,  began  to  swap  firearms  with  the 
natives  in  exchange  for  sea-otter  skins.  They  paid  no  heed  to  Bara- 
nof's  protests,  and  he  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  forwarding 
despatches  to  the  administrative  council  of  the  Company,  asking  the 
Government  to  put  a  stop  to  such  outrages. 

As  soon  as  the  American  vessels  had  sailed,  Baranof  returned  to 
Kadiak,  where  he  found  affairs  in  a  state  of  demoralization :  disputes 
had  arisen  between  the  officers  of  the  Company  and  the  clergy;  dis- 
cipline had  been  thoroughly  relaxed,  and  a  party  of  the  ringleaders 
were  engaged  in  fitting  out  one  of  the  Company's  vessels  for  an  inde- 
pendent cruise.  Baranof  immediately  restored  order  from  chaos,  pun- 
ishing the  chief  culprits  severely.  A  scoundrel  named  Larionof  tried 
to  assassinate  Baranof,  who,  however,  was  too  quick  for  him :  he  seized 
the  man's  hand,  took  away  his  weapon,  and  strangled  him  to  death. 

36 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    SITKA.  37 

During  Baranof's  absence  from  Sitka,  a  tragic  event  befell.  Al- 
though the  site  for  the  stronghold  had  been  acquired  by  barter  from 
the  chief  of  the  savage  Koloshi,  who  dwelt  in  that  region,  and  although 
they  pretended  to  be  friendly,  they  harbored  hostile  feelings  against  the 
settlers,  and  were  on  the  lookout  for  an  opportunity  to  exterminate 
them.  One  June  holiday,  when  it  was  known  that  a  large  part  of  the 
garrison  were  out  hunting  and  fishing,  a  band  of  several  thousand  armed 
Koloshi,  assisted  by  allied  tribes  of  Thlinkits,  made  a  simultaneous 
assault  on  the  garrison.  The  commander,  Vasili  Medviednikof,  and 
the  rest  of  the  inmates  were  slain  at  once;  more  than  three  thousand 
sea-otter  skins  and  other  property  of  the  Company  were  taken  from 
the  warehouse  and  carried  to  the  canoes  which  had  brought  a  large 
number  of  the  savages;  the  other  houses  were  also  looted  and  then 
set  on  fire.  Three  Kussians  and  five  Aleuts  managed  to  escape.  One 
of  the  survivors,  who  happened  at  the  time  to  be  out  watching  the  cattle, 
afterwards  described  the  massacre.  Having  secured  his  gun,  and  bid- 
den a  girl  employed  in  the  yard  to  flee  for  her  life,  he  went  and  hid 
in  the  thick  underbrush,  though  not  without  an  encounter  with  four 
Koloshi,  who  wrested  his  gun  from  him  but  did  not  kill  him.  From 
the  edge  of  the  woods,  he  could  see  the  savages  swarming  over  the 
barracks  and  carrying  off  their  loot.  He  witnessed  the  rapid  spread 
of  the  fire  that  destroyed  all  the  buildings. 

He  says :  —  "I  threw  myself  down  among  the  underbrush  on  the  edge 
of  the  forest,  covering  myself  with  pieces  of  bark.  From  there  I  saw 
Nakvassin  drop  from  the  upper  balcony  and  run  toward  the  forest; 
but  when  nearly  across  the  open  space  he  fell  to  the  ground,  and  four 
warriors  rushed  up  and  carried  him  back  to  the  barracks  on  the  points 
of  their  lances  and  cut  off  his  head.  Kabanof  was  dragged  from  the 
barracks  into  the  street,  where  the  Koloshi  pierced  him  with  their 
lances ;  but  how  the  other  Russians  who  were  there  came  to  their  end, 
I  do  not  know.  The  slaughter  and  burning  was  continued  by  the  sav- 
ages until  evening,  but  finally  I  stole  out  among  the  ruins  and  ashes, 
and  in  my  wanderings  came  across  some  of  our  cows,  and  saw  that 


38  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

even  the  poor  dumb  animals  had  not  escaped  the  bloodthirsty  fiends, 
but  had  spears  stuck  in  their  sides.  Exercising  all  my  strength,  I  was 
barely  able  to  pull  out  some  of  the  spears,  when  I  was  observed  by  two 
Koloshi  and  compelled  to  leave  the  cows  to  their  fate,  and  hide  again 
in  the  woods. 

' '  I  passed  the  night  not  far  from  the  ruins  of  the  fort.  In  the  morn- 
ing I  heard  the  report  of  a  cannon,  and  looked  out  of  the  brush  but 
could  see  no  one,  and  not  wishing  to  expose  myself  again  to  further 
danger,  went  higher  up  into  the  mountain  through  the  forest.  While 
advancing  cautiously  through  the  woods,  I  met  two  other  persons  who 
were  in  the  same  plight  as  myself  —  a  girl  from  the  Chiniatz  village, 
Kodiak,  with  an  infant  at  her  breast,  and  a  man  from  the  Kiliuda 
village,  who  had  been  left  behind  by  the  hunting  party  on  account  of 
sickness.  I  took  them  both  with  me  to  the  mountain,  but  each  night  I 
went  with  my  companions  to  the  ruins  of  the  fort  and  bewailed  the 
fate  of  the  slain.  In  this  miserable  condition  we  remained  for  a  week, 
with  nothing  to  eat  and  nothing  but  water  to  drink.  About  noon  of 
the  last  day,  we  heard  from  the  mountain  two  cannon-shots,  which 
raised  some  hopes  in  me,  and  I  bade  my  companions  to  follow  me  at 
a  little  distance,  and  then  went  down  toward  the  river,  through  the 
woods,  to  hide  myself  near  the  shore,  and  see  whether  there  was  a  ship 
in  the  bay." 

This  proved  to  be  an  English  vessel  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Barber,  who  heard  the  man's  shouts  and  sent  a  boat  to  take  him  aboard. 
His  shouts  were  heard  also  by  half  a  dozen  of  the  Koloshi,  who  almost 
captured  him.  When  taken  on  board  the  vessel,  he  told  the  story  of 
the  massacre ;  and  a  boat  with  a  load  of  armed  men  was  sent  to  rescue 
the  other  survivors.  They  reconnoitred  the  ruins  of  the  fort  and 
buried  the  dead,  all  of  whom  they  found  beheaded,  with  one  exception. 

The  captain  inveigled  the  "  toyon,"  or  native  chief,  Mikhail,  and 
his  nephew  on  board.  He  feasted  them  until  they  became  intoxicated, 
and  then  ordered  them  put  in  irons,  keeping  them  confined  until  they 
agreed  to  return  all  the  prisoners  taken.  These  included  eighteen 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    SITKA.  39 

women,  who  had  been  seized  as  they  were  washing  clothes  at  the  river 
The  ransom  also  included  a  payment  of  two  thousand  sea-otter  skins. 
Having  succeeded  in  this  "  coup  de  main,"  Captain  Barber  set  sail 
for  Kadiak,  where  he  demanded  of  Baranof  a  sum  of  fifty  thousand 
rubles  for  his  services  in  rescuing  the  men  and  women.  Baranof  re- 
fused to  accede  to  these  exorbitant  terms,  and  finally  settled  with  a 
load  of  furs  valued  at  a  fifth  of  that  amount. 

This  disaster  at  Sitka  was  followed  by  many  others,  fulfilling  the 
old  proverb  that  misfortunes  never  come  singly.  One  hundred  and 
eighty  Aleut  hunters  were  surprised  and  massacred  in  the  same  vicin- 
ity. Another  party  of  about  one  hundred  perished  by  eating  poisonous 
mussels;  this  tragedy  giving  the  name  of  "  Pagubleniye  Prolif,"  or 
'  *  Destruction  Strait  * '  —  sometimes  miscalled  ' '  Peril  Strait  "  —  to 
the  body  of  water  between  Baranof  and  Chichagof  Islands,  where  the 
disaster  occurred.  Three  ships  loaded  with  provisions  and  stores  were 
wrecked  on  their  way  to  Kadiak,  and  the  employees  of  the  Company 
were  saved  from  starvation  only  by  the  arrival  of  a  vessel  from  New 
York,  the  cargo  of  which  consisted  chiefly  of  provisions.  Baranof  was 
glad  to  purchase  them  for  twelve  thousand  rubles. 

A  hunting-party  of  three  hundred  boats,  under  command  of  his  sub- 
ordinate, Kuskof,  reported  engagements  with  considerable  bodies  of 
warlike  natives,  but  he  had  routed  them  with  large  losses.  Kuskof,  as 
soon  as  he  heard  of  the  Sitka  massacre,  was  eager  to  go  and  punish 
the  Koloshi,  but  Baranof  did  not  think  his  circumstances  at  the  time 
justified  such  an  expedition.  Meantime,  despatches  brought  from  the 
wrecked  ships  informed  him  of  the  accession  of  Alexander  I.  The 
commandant  at  Okhotsk  ordered  him  to  assemble  all  the  inhabitants 
of  Kadiak  and  the  surrounding  countries,  and  require  from  them  the 
oath  of  allegiance.  Baranof,  unwilling  that  the  crippled  condition  of 
his  forces  should  be  detected,  ignored  the  command.  This  disobedience 
was  reported  to  Irkutsk  by  a  subordinate  named  Talin,  who  'had  been 
dismissed  from  the  navy  for  bad  conduct.  When  the  report  was  brought 
to  the  notice  of  the  Senate  at  Petersburg,  it  was  decided  that  Baranof 


40  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

was  not  subject  to  orders  from  the  local  commander  at  Okhotsk.  Talin 
was  dismissed  from  the  service,  but  during  the  two  years  that  it  took 
to  carry  the  information  to  Alaska,  Talin  was  able  to  do  much  mischief 
and  cause  great  annoyance. 

Before  the  consolidation  of  the  trading  companies,  permission  had 
been  refused  regular  naval  officers,  on  leave  of  absence,  to  command 
Shelikhof's  ships;  consequently,  the  Company  had  been  obliged  to  de- 
pend on  any  chance  navigator  or  "  morekhodets  "  that  offered  his  serv- 
ices. Many  of  them  were  utterly  incompetent.  Ivan  Petrof,  comment- 
ing on  this  state  of  things,  says :  — ' '  This  title  was  applied  to  anybody 
who  had  made  a  sea  voyage,  no  matter  in  what  capacity ;  but  they  were 
generally  hunters  or  trappers  from  Siberia,  who  had  some  slight  experi- 
ence in  flat-boat  navigation  on  the  rivers.  They  were  entirely  ignorant 
of  nautical  science  and  unacquainted  with  the  use  of  instruments,  rely- 
ing altogether  upon  landmarks  to  make  their  way  from  Asia  to 
America. 

"  The  most  extraordinary  instances  of  stupidity  in  managing  their 
vessels  are  related  of  some  of  these  so-called  navigators.  Once  out 
of  sight  of  land  they  were  lost,  and  compelled  to  trust  to  chance  in 
hitting  upon  the  right  direction  to  make  the  land  again.  It  was  the 
practice  to  coast  along  the  Kamchatka  shore  until  nearly  opposite  the 
Commander  Islands,  and  to  wait  for  some  clear  day  when  the  latter 
could  be  sighted ;  then  the  crossing  was  made ;  and,  satisfied  with  such 
a  brilliant  result,  the  skipper  would  beach  his  craft  for  the  remainder 
of  the  season,  and  pass  the  winter  in  killing  fur-seals  and  sea-cows, 
and  salting  down  the  meat  for  his  further  voyage. 

"  Late  in  the  following  spring,  rarely  before  the  month  of  June, 
the  vessel  was  launched  again  and  headed,  at  a  venture,  to  the  nearest 
islands  of  the  Aleutian  chain.  If  the  captain  succeeded  in  finding  the 
land,  he  would  proceed  along  the  chain  of  islands,  keeping  a  short  dis- 
tance to  the  northward,  careful  never  to  lose  sight  of  the  mountain 
peaks.  As  the  trapper  captain,  with  his  crew  of  landsmen,  knew  noth- 
ing of  keeping  his  craft  up  to  the  wind,  no  progress  was  made  unless 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    SITKA.  43 

the  wind  was  absolutely  favorable,  and  thus  another  season  would  pass 
before  Atka  or  Unalaska  Island  was  reached,  where  the  craft  was 
hauled  up  again  for  the  winter.  A  term  of  seven  years  was  frequently 
consumed  in  making  the  round  trip  to  the  American  coast  and  back 
again  to  Kamchatka  or  Okhotsk,  a  voyage  that  at  the  present  time  a 
schooner  can  accomplish  in  about  three  weeks.  At  least  seventy-five 
per  cent,  of  all  the  vessels  that  sailed  upon  these  voyages,  from  the 
discovery  of  the  American  coast  to  the  beginning  of  this  century,  suf- 
fered wreck,  and  every  one  of  these  disasters  could  be  traced  to  the 
ignorance  both  of  captains  and  sailors." 

Beginning  with  1801,  capable  officers  were  permitted  to  enlist  in  the 
service  of  the  Company,  and  a  vast  improvement  was  initiated.  The 
first  of  these  officers  were  Lieutenants  Khvostof  and  Davidof.  They 
navigated  an  old,  leaky  vessel,  with  a  crew  of  landlubbers,  from 
Okhotsk  to  Kadiak  in  two  months.  The  following  year,  the  Company 
obtained  permission  to  forward  supply  ships  direct  from  Petersburg 
to  the  colonies.  Two  ships,  of  not  far  from  five  hundred  tons  capacity, 
were  purchased  in  London,  and,  under  the  names  of  the  "  Nieva  " 
and  "  Nadyezhda"  (Hope),  commanded  respectively  by  Captain  Lis- 
yansky  and  Captain  Count  von  Krusenstern,  set  sail  for  Alaskan 
waters.  The  "  Nieva  "  arrived  at  Kadiak  early  in  July,  1804,  after 
a  voyage  lasting  nearly  a  year.  Learning  that  Baranof  was  on  his  way 
to  Sitka,  with  the  design  of  punishing  the  natives  for  their  treacheiy, 
he  resolved  to  join  him  there  and  assist  in  the  revenge. 

Baranof,  however,  had  been  delayed  at  Yakutat,  where  he  had  to 
finish  the  equipment  of  two  small  vessels.  When  he  reached  Sitka, 
with  his  little  force  of  forty  Russians  and  a  few  hundred  Aleuts,  with 
which  to  engage  in  battle  with  as  many  thousands  of  the  warlike  Ko- 
loshi,  his  feelings  may  be  easily  imagined  when  he  discovered  Lis- 
yansky's  ship  riding  at  anchor  in  the  beautiful  roadstead. 

The  natives  doughtily  refused  his  demand  for  the  restitution  of  the 
furs  looted  from  his  warehouse,  and  for  hostages  for  future  good  con- 
duct. The  first  attack  of  the  Russians  was  made  against  a  fort  built 


44  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

on  the  wooded  height  which  overlooks  Sitka.  Lisyansky  describes  it 
as  ' '  an  irregular  polygon,  its  longest  side  facing  the  sea.  It  was  pro- 
tected by  a  breastwork  two  logs  in  thickness  and  about  six  feet  high. 
Around  and  above  it,  tangled  brushwood  was  piled.  Grape-shot  did 
little  damage,  even  at  the  distance  of  a  cable's  length.  There  were 
two  embrasures  for  cannon  in  the  side  facing  the  sea,  and  two  gates 
facing  the  forest.  Within  were  fourteen  large  huts,  or,  as  they  were 
called  then  and  are  called  at  the  present  time  by  the  natives,  '  bara- 
baras.'  Judging  from  the  quantity  of  provisions  and  domestic  im- 
plements found  there,  it  must  have  contained  at  least  eight  hundred 
warriors." 

The  first  attack  made  by  the  Eussians  was  repulsed.  Baranof  him- 
self was  wounded,  and  eleven  of  his  men  were  killed ;  but  as  the  ships 
covered  his  retreat,  he  managed  to  save  his  cannon.  The  following 
day,  Lisyansky  took  command;  the  ships  approached  the  shore  and 
bombarded  the  hostile  fort.  An  envoy  asking  peace  arrived.  The 
evacuation  of  the  fort  was  demanded.  It  being  delayed,  bombardment 
was  renewed.  In  the  night,  after  bewailing  their  fate,  and  killing  their 
children  and  dogs,  the  natives  deserted  their  stronghold,  leaving  the 
bodies  of  their  dead. 

The  Koloshi  having  beaten  a  retreat  to  Chatham  Strait,  Baranof 
was  free  to  establish  himself  at  Sitka,  where,  with  Lisyansky 's  assist- 
ance, he  built  the  great  castle  that  was,  for  so  many  years  to  come, 
to  be  the  seat  of  colossal  revels,  unbridled  luxury,  and  boundless  hos- 
pitality. When  it  was  destroyed  by  fire,  another  still  finer  took  its 
place;  that  again  was  wrecked  by  an  earthquake,  and  also  destroyed 
by  fire.  Around  the  castle  a  village  grouped  itself.  The  officials  were 
housed  in  huge  barracks,  solidly  built;  some  of  them  covering  more 
than  ten  thousand  square  feet,  and  several  stories  in  height.  The 
rooms  were  papered,  the  floors  were  polished  and  covered  with  im- 
ported rugs,  and  heavy  furniture  brought  from  Petersburg  gave  an 
air  of  luxury  to  these  quarters.  Baranof  himself  was  never  more 
pleased  than  when  congenial  visitors  arrived  on  some  friendly  ship. 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    SITKA.  45 

He  had  a  system  of  signal  lights  flashing  from  the  cupola  of  his  castle, 
and  beacon-fires  were  kindled  along  the  shore,  to  pilot  the  way  by  night. 
A  great  banquet  would  test  the  capacities  of  the  guests,  especially  in 
standing  up  against  vast  bumpers  of  fiery  vodka  and  costly  wines.  The 
plate  and  glassware  were  of  the  richest  description.  Baranof  had  a 
fine  library,  and  his  walls  were  hung  with  valuable  paintings. 

For  a  time  he  was  obliged  to  submit  to  many  humiliations  at  the 
hands  of  supercilious  naval  officers,  who  looked  down  upon  him  as 
being  of  inferior  rank.  But,  in  recognition  of  his  wonderful  success 
in  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  Company,  the  Emperor,  at  Riazanof 's 
suggestion,  conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  Commercial  Councillor, 
and  the  Order  of  St.  Anne  of  the  third  class.  When  this  honor  came, 
he  is  said  to  have  burst  into  tears  and  exclaimed :  — ' '  I  am  a  nobleman ! 
I  am  the  equal  in  position  and  the  superior  in  ability  of  those  insolent 
naval  officers."  Nevertheless,  as  long  as  he  lived,  he  was  having  con- 
tinual difficulties  with  the  Government  officers,  who  would  dispute  his 
authority  and  try  to  undermine  his  power. 

Shelikhof 's  son-in-law,  Eiazanof,  had  been  a  passenger  on  the  "  Nad- 
yezhda, ' '  but  had  proceeded  directly  to  Japan,  where  he  was  accredited 
as  Ambassador  to  the  Emperor.  His  mission  there  proved  a  failure, 
and  he  next  devoted  himself  to  regulating  the  affairs  of  the  Company 
in  which  he  had  so  commanding  an  interest.  He  was  the  first  to  put 
an  end  to  the  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  the  seals  on  the  Pribilof 
Islands.  It  is  said  that  two  millions  were  taken  the  first  year,  and  the 
price  of  seal  skins  fell  to  panic  rates.  In  order  to  make  arrangements 
for  the  regular  purchase  of  provisions,  he  bought  a  Boston  ship  and 
proceeded  to  San  Francisco  Bay,  which  was  then  in  the  hands  of  the 
Spanish.  It  was  contrary  to  their  instructions  to  hold  intercourse 
with  foreign  ships,  but  he  overcame  the  scruples  of  the  Commandant, 
whose  daughter  he  would  have  married,  had  he  not  died  before  he 
obtained  permission  from  the  Russian  Emperor. 

Riazanof,  by  this  visit,  inaugurated  trade-relations  between  Spain 
and  the  Russian  colonies.  He  foresaw  the  possibilities  of  the  Pacific 


46  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

coast,  and  proposed  the  planting  of  Russian  colonists  on  New  Albion, 
as  the  region  north  of  the  San  Francisco  presidio  was  called.  Realiz- 
ing how  unfitted  the  Russians  themselves  were  for  agricultural  pur- 
suits, he  suggested  that ' t  the  patient  and  industrious  Chinese  ' '  should 
be  brought  over  to  man  the  plantations.  This  was  in  1806. 

Five  years  later,  Baranof  carried  out  Riazanof's  directions  and 
sent  his  chief  subordinate,  Kuskof,  to  establish  himself  on  the  Cali- 
fornia coast.  He  bought  a  tract  of  land  of  the  Indians  at  Bodega,  not 
far  north  of  San  Francisco  Bay.  This  whole  coast  as  far  as  Kadiak 
was  now  furnishing  its  tribute  of  furs  to  the  Russian- American  Com- 
pany. Baranof  engaged  '  *  Yankee  ' '  captains  to  hunt  the  sea-otter  and 
other  fur-bearing  animals  on  shares.  It  is  said  that  during  one  single 
year  the  Company's  share  in  the  profits  made  by  these  partnership 
expeditions  amounted  to  several  hundred  thousand  rubles.  Occasion- 
ally, the  Yankee  skippers  played  sharp  tricks  on  the  Company.  Petrof 
tells  of  a  Captain  Bennett  who  exchanged  his  cargo  of  provisions  for 
seal  skins  on  the  basis  of  a  dollar  apiece  in  trade,  and  then  resold 
the  skins  to  the  Company's  agent  at  Petropavlovsk  for  double  that  sum. 

When  the  Directors  of  the  Company  heard  of  this  and  similar  trans- 
actions, Baranof  was  ordered  to  change  his  policy.  About  the  same 
time,  Lazaref  was  despatched  from  Petersburg  on  the  ship  ' '  Suvorof . ' ' 
He  reached  Sitka  after  a  voyage  which  lasted  thirteen  months.  Here 
a  bitter  controversy  arose  between  Baranof  and  Lazaref,  each  claiming 
supreme  rank.  Finally  Lazaref  refused  to  carry  out  Baranof 's  in- 
structions and  set  sail,  followed  by  the  old  commander's  anathemas 
and  ineffectual  cannon  shots  from  the  fortress.  Lazaref  had  loaded 
the  1 1  Suvorof  ' '  with  furs  and  other  commodities  taken  in  trade  along 
the  Pacific  coast,  and  he  brought  back  to  Petersburg  a  cargo  valued 
at  more  than  a  million  rubles.  Of  course,  he  showed  his  animosity 
against  Baranof  by  retailing  all  the  evil  stories  that  he  had  heard  about 
his  behavior  and  his  untrustworthiness.  Accordingly,  it  was  decided 
to  appoint  a  successor  to  the  commander. 

There  had  been  other  attempts  to  get  rid  of  him.    Two  prospective 


THE    FOUNDING    OF    SITKA.  47 

successors  had  died  before  reaching  Sitka.  In  1809,  two  promuish- 
leniki  had  entered. into  a  conspiracy  to  kill  him.  The  attempt  failed, 
but  the  anxiety  which  it  caused  Baranof,  in  addition  to  his  increasing 
disabilities,  had  unquestionably  unstrung  his  mind,  so  long  keen  and 
alert. 

Washington  Irving  in  his  "  Astoria  "  called  "  Count  Baranhoff  " 
11  a  rough,  rugged,  hospitable,  hard-working  old  Russian.  Somewhat 
of  a  soldier,  somewhat  of  a  trader;  above  all  a  boon  companion  of 
the  old  roystering  school,  with  a  strong  cross  of  the  brave." 

He  goes  on  to  say :  —  "  Mr.  Hunt  found  this  hyperborean  veteran 
ensconced  in  a  fort  which  crested  the  whole  of  a  high  rocky  promontory. 
It  mounted  one  hundred  guns,  large  and  small,  and  was  impregnable 
to  Indian  attack,  unaided  by  artillery.  Here  the  old  governor  lorded 
it  over  sixty  Eussians,  who  formed  the  corps  of  the  trading  estab- 
lishment, besides  an  indefinite  number  of  Indian  hunters  of  the  Kodiak 
tribe,  who  were  continually  coming  and  going,  or  lounging  and  loiter- 
ing about  the  fort  like  so  many  hounds  round  a  sportsman's  hunting 
quarters.  Though  a  loose  liver  among  his  guests,  the  governor  was 
a  strict  disciplinarian  among  his  men,  keeping  them  in  perfect  sub- 
jection, and  having  seven  on  guard,  night  and  day.  Besides  these 
immediate  serfs  and  dependents  just  mentioned,  the  old  Russian  poten- 
tate exerted  a  considerable  sway  over  a  numerous  and  irregular  class 
of  maritime  traders,  who  looked  to  him  for  aid  and  munitions,  and 
through  whom  he  may  be  said  to  have,  in  some  degree,  extended  his 
power  along  the  whole  northwest  coast.  .  .  . 

"  Over  these  coasting  captains,  as  we  have  hinted,  the  veteran  gov- 
ernor exerted  some  sort  of  sway;  but  it  was  of  a  peculiar  and  char- 
acteristic kind:  it  was  the  tyranny  of  the  table.  They  were  obliged 
to  join  him  in  his  *  prosnics  '  or  carousals,  and  to  drink  '  potations 
pottle  deep.'  His  carousals,  too,  were  not  of  the  most  quiet  kind, 
nor  were  his  potations  as  mild  as  nectar.  '  He  is  continually,'  said 
Mr.  Hunt,  '  giving  entertainments  by  way  of  parade,  and  if  you  do  not 
drink  raw  rum  and  boiling  punch  as  strong  as  sulphur,  he  will  insult 


48  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

you  as  soon  as  he  gets  drunk,  which  is  very  shortly  after  setting  down 
to  table.'" 

Father  Juvenal,  the  weak  young  priest  who  was  murdered  by  the 
Indians  of  Ilyamna,  gives  in  his  diary  far  from  nattering  pictures 
of  Baranof,  whether  in  Church  giving  the  responses,  —  singing  in  his 
hoarse  voice,  —  or  shouting  obscene  songs  in  the  midst  of  a  drunken 
carousal,  with  a  woman  seated  on  his  lap. 

In  1817,  Captain  Hagenmeister  was  sent  out  in  the  ship  "  Suvorof  ' 
to  supplant  him.  At  first  he  did  not  disclose  the  real  object  of  his 
visit ;  but  on  January  llth,  1818,  he  abruptly  produced  his  commission 
and  claimed  the  command.  When  he  returned  to  Russia,  he  left  Lieu- 
tenant Yanovsky  as  his  representative.  The  fact  that  Yanovsky  had 
married  Baranof 's  favorite  daughter,  the  child  of  a  native  woman, 
did  not  seem  to  lessen  the  severity  of  the  blow.  He  rose  from  a  bed 
of  illness,  arranged  his  papers,  and  turned  over  to  the  new  manager 
property  far  exceeding  in  value  what  the  Company  had  expected.  He 
had  enjoyed  unlimited  opportunities  to  enrich  himself,  but  whatever 
faults  he  had,  dishonesty  was  not  one  of  them. 

During  the  first  hours  of  his  downfall,  Baranof  walked  alone  to 
his  favorite  retreat  —  a  gray  flat  stone  standing  not  far  from  the  castle, 
with  a  wonderfully  beautiful  view  of  the  island-studded  bay  —  and 
there  where  he  was  secure  from  interruption,  not  even  his  favorite 
daughter  daring  to  approach  him  while  he  was  indulging  in  this  silent 
self-communion,  he  prepared  himself  for  the  inevitable. 

Eetaining  little  for  himself,  he  determined  to  go  back  to  Russia, 
where  he  had  left  a  wife  and  children  many  years  before.  After  bid- 
ding a  tearful  farewell  to  his  old  friends  and  associates,  he  sailed 
from  Sitka  on  the  ship  "  Kutuzof,"  late  in  November.  At  Batavia 
he  was  taken  ill  with  malarial  fever,  and  the  day  after  the  ship  again 
sailed  for  Petersburg,  on  the  sixteenth  of  April,  1819,  he  died  and  was 
buried  in  the  Indian  Ocean. 


CHAPTER   V. 

DECLINE    OF   THE    RUSSIAN  -  AMERICAN    COMPANY. 

UNDER  the  direction  of  Lieutenant  Yanovsky,  further  explora- 
tions of  Alaska  were  conducted.  One  party  surveyed  the  coast 
from  Bristol  Bay  westward  to  the  mouth  of  the  Kuskokwim 
River  and  Nunivak  Island;  another  reached  the  valley  of  the  Kusko- 
kwim by  an  overland  route ;  and  still  another  went  as  far  south  as  Nor- 
ton, but  missed  discovering  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon,  —  or,  as  the  Rus- 
sians called  it,  the  * '  Kvikpak, '  *  -  though  they  crossed  its  mouth. 

In  1820  the  charter  of  the  Russian- American  Company  expired,  but 
was  renewed  with  additional  privileges.  The  profits  for  some  years 
had  been  more  than  half  a  million  rubles :  this,  in  spite  of  maintaining 
a  large  and  increasing  fleet  and  a  whole  army  of  dependents,  building 
Churches,  and  establishing  schools. 

Hagenmeister's  term  as  manager  was  short;  he  did  not  carry  out 
his  proposed  plan  of  removing  the  headquarters  from  Sitka  to  Kadiak, 
although  it  would  have  been,  in  some  respects,  a  safer  and  more  de- 
sirable place  of  residence.  He  was  succeeded  in  1821  by  Mikhail  Ivan- 
ovitch  Muraviof,  under  whose  administration  Russian  America  was 
made  independent  of  Siberian  jurisdiction,  and  the  boundary  was  set- 
tled by  treaties  with  England  and  the  United  States.  During  his 
administration  also,  great  activity  was  displayed  in  converting  the 
natives.  The  most  zealous  missionary  was  Ivan  Veniaminof,  who  went 
to  Unalaska  in  1824  and  carried  the  teachings  of  his  Church  over  an 
enormous  region,  and  so  successfully  that  within  three  years  after  his 
arrival,  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  between  ten  and  eleven  thou- 
sand communicants,  four-fifths  of  whom  were  natives.  Next  to  Bara- 

49 


50  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

nof,  Veniaminof  is  the  most  interesting  of  the  early  Russian  notables 

/~~"^--v-  f •>  .  " — *~~    ' 

in  Alaskaa  history.    He  was  the  first  Bishop  of  Alaska,  and  gave  the 

cathedral  at  Sitka  many  precious  treasures.     His  memory  is  ev^y 
where  revered.     Muraviof  was  a  stern  and  relentless  disciplinarian, 
and  so  intimidated  the  natives,  that  his  very  name  was  a  terror  among 
them  for  many  years.    He  has  been  called  "  Muraviof  the  Butcher." 

During  the  administration  of  the  Livonian  Baron,  Ferdinand  Pet- 
rovitch  von  Wrangel,  which  lasted  from  1831  to  1836,  the  quarrel  be- 
tween the  Russian- American  Company  and  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
came  to  a  crisis.  The  English  company  would  have  been  glad  to  unite 
forces  with  the  Russian  competitor,  but  Wrangel  had  orders  to  crush 
the  English  and  prevent  their  making  any  trading-stations  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  He  succeeded  in  preventing  Captain  Ogden  from  ascend- 
ing the  Stakhin  River,  and  when  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  brought 
suit  against  the  Russian- American  Company  for  twenty-one  thousand 
five  hundred  pounds  damages,  a  settlement  most  advantageous  to  the 
Russian  Company  was  effected  at  a  conference  at  Hamburg. 

Wrangel 's  successor,  Captain  Kuprianof,  made  extensive  explora- 
tions to  the  north,  reaching,  by  means  of  bidars  or  skin  boats  sent 
out  from  the  brig  "  Polypheme,"  as  far  as  Point  Barrow,  east  of 
Kotzebue  Sound. 

Other  explorers  gave  their  attention  to  the  interior.  Glazunof  as- 
cended the  Yukon,  which  was  then  known  as  the  Kvikpak,  and  was 
the  first  to  make  the  portage  between  the  Yukon  and  the  Kuskokwim 
Rivers.  Another  explorer,  named  Rosenberg,  penetrated  from  the 
Nugashak  River  to  the  Kuskokwim,  and  from  there  to  Nulato  on  the 
Yukon,  where  he  established  a  station  which  was  afterwards  destroyed 
by  the  natives.  Certainly  the  exploits  of  the  brave  explorers  sent  out 
by  the  Russian-American  Company,  or  by  such  men  as  Count  Rum- 
yantsof ,  who,  at  his  own  private  expense,  despatched  Naval  Lieutenant 
Kotzebue  to  explore  the  Arctic,  and  whose  name  is  deservedly  attached 
to  mountain,  cape  or  island  in  the  far  north,  calls  for  the  highest  ad- 
miration. Through  terrible  deprivations,  meeting  almost  insuperable 


DECLINE    OF    THE    RUSSIAN  -  AMERICAN    COMPANY.  51 

difficulties,  and  enduring  horrible  sufferings,  these  men  added  greatly 
to  the  sum  of  human  Vno^l^1  - 

Captaiii  jiupnanoi  MJOK  steps  to  sell  the  California  Colony,  which, 
owing  to  the  incapacity  of  the  Russians  as  farmers,  had  not  succeeded. 
During  his  administration,  a  destructive  epidemic  of  smallpox  broke* 
out  among  the  natives.  It  appeared  first  at  Sitka,  in  1836,  and  car- 
ried off  four  hundred  of  the  Koloshi.  Strangely  enough,  only  one 
Eussian  suffered  from  the  malady,  and  in  his  case  it  was  not  fatal.  It 
spread  to  remote  settlements.  On  Kadiak,  seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  persons  died.  Vaccination  proved  efficacious  where  it  ways  prac- 
tised, but  many  of  the  natives  had  superstitious  fears  of  it  and  refused 
to  submit  to  it.  On  Unalaska,  Dr.  Blashke,  the  resident  physician  of 
Sitka,  vaccinated  more  than  a  thousand  natives,  and  only  a  little  more 
than  ten  per  cent,  died;  whereas,  in  the  district  comprising  Cook's 
Inlet,  Prince  William  Sound,  and  Bristol  Bay,  more  than  a  third  of 
those  attacked  perished. 

The  disease  was  not  stamped  out  until  1840,  when  Captain  Etolin. 
a  successful  explorer  of  the  regions  north  of  Bering  Sea,  succeeded 
Baron  Wrangel.  This  new  manager  was  confronted  by  serious  dif- 
ficulties, owing  to  the  immense  loss  in  the  native  population  and  the 
consequent  starvation  which  threatened  the  settlements.  Etolin  decided 
to  concentrate  the  inhabitants  in  a  few  large  villages,  the  chiefs  of 
which  were  held  responsible  for  securing  food  and  dealing  out  the 
stores  that  were  to  be  collected. 

The  following  year,  the  Russian- American  Company  applied  for  a 
renewal  of  its  charter,  which  the  Government  seemed  in  no  hurry  to 
grant.  When  it  was  renewed,  however,  it  made  some  changes  in  the 
management  of  the  Company's  affairs,  but  the  chief  control  was  still 
vested  in  the  hands  of  men  selected  from  the  navy.  This  explains  the 
zeal  for  exploration,  and  the  fact  that  the  trade  of  the  Company  by 
no  means  kept  pace  with  its  expenses.  Petrof  says :  — 

"  After  Baranof's  departure,  not  a  single  practical  merchant  or 
business  man  had  the  management  of  colonial  affairs,  and  the  conse- 


52  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

quence  was  that  the  dividends  diminished  every  year,  while  at  the 
same  time,  according  to  the  official  reports  to  the  Directors  and  to 
the  Imperial  Government,  the  colonies  seemed  to  be  flourishing  and 
developing  rapidly.  Each  succeeding  chief  manager  seemed  to  think 
only  of  making  the  greatest  display  of  continued  explorations,  erection 
of  buildings,  construction  of  ships  of  all  sizes,  and  the  establishment 
of  industries  and  manufactories. 

"  The  shipyard  at  Sitka  was  complete  with  all  kinds  of  workshops 
and  magazines,  even  having  brass  and  iron  foundries,  machin£'  shops, 
and  nautical-instrument  makers.  Experiments  were  made  in  the  manu- 
facture of  bricks,  woodenware,  and  even  woollen  stuffs  of  material 
imported  from  California.  For  all  these  enterprises  the  skilled  labor 
had  to  be  imported  from  Eussia  at  great  expense,  and  this  circum- 
stance alone  will  explain  the  failure  attending  the  attempts.  Vast 
sums  were  also  wasted  in  endeavors  to  extract  the  iron  from  a  very 
inferior  grade  of  ore  found  in  various  sections  of  the  country.  The 
only  real  advantage  the  Company  ever  reaped  from  its  many  workshops 
at  Sitka  was  the  manufacture  of  agricultural  implements  for  the  ig- 
norant and  indolent  rancheros  of  California ;  thousands  of  plowshares 
of  the  very  primitive  pattern  in  use  in  those  countries  being  made  in 
Sitka  for  the  California  and  Mexican  markets.  Axes,  hatchets,  spades 
and  hoes  were  also  turned  out  by  the  industrious  workmen  of  the  Sitka 
shipyard,  while  the  foundry  was  for  some  time  engaged  in  casting  bells 
for  the  Catholic  missions  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Many  of  these  bells  are 
still  in  existence,  and  bear  witness  to  the  early,  though  perhaps  abnor- 
mal, industrial  development  on  our  northern  coast." 

Some  of  the  trade  ventures  proved  unprofitable,  but  no  one  can  ever 
tell  when  the  reward  of  patient  waiting  is  to  come;  and  at  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  California  gold  fever,  the  Company's  storehouse,  which 
was  packed  with  unsalable  goods,  was  at  the  last  relieved.  Even  the 
most  shop-worn  articles  were  sold  at  great  profit. 

Never  suspecting  the  incalculable  riches  that  lay,  scarcely  hidden,  in 
the  beach-sands  and  the  mountain-valleys,  the  director  despatched  a 


DECLINE    OF    THE    RUSSIAN  -  AMERICAN    COMPANY.  53 

party  of  Aleuts,  under  command  of  a  subordinate,  to  take  up  and  work 
a  claim,  but  the  results  did  not  justify  the  outlay.  Not  more  success- 
ful was  the  attempt  of  Lieutenant  Doroshin  to  prospect  for  precious 
metals  in  Alaska.  He  was  an  experienced  mining-engineer  and  had 
graduated  from  the  College  of  Mines.  To  be  sure,  he  discovered  gold 
in  the  vicinity  of  Cook's  Inlet,  but  the  labors  of  forty  men  under  his 
direction  produced  only  a  few  ounces  of  gold-dust,  and  he  advised 
that  the  experiment  should  be  discontinued. 

Doroshin  was  handicapped  in  many  ways.  Several  years  later,  he 
wrote :  —  "  The  small  result  of  my  labors  has  cooled  the  ardor  of  the 
chief  manager  of  the  colonies  for  gold  seeking.  I  do  not  cease  to  hope, 
however,  that  later  some  other  engineer  will  be  more  fortunate  in 
the  path  pointed  out  by  me,  with  better  means  than  were  at  my  dis- 
posal. In  that  case,  of  course,  nobody  will  think  of  him  who  first 
found  gold  where  there  were  no  ancient  diggings,  where  no  grains  of 
gold  were  found  in  the  crop  of  a  grouse,  and  where  the  natives  have 
not  even  a  name  for  the  precious  metal. ' ' 

Coal  had  been  discovered  many  years  before  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  Kenai  peninsula,  but  only  sporadic  attempts  had  been  made  to 
make  use  of  it.  Owing  to  the  demand  for  it  in  California,  a  company 
was  formed  in  San  Francisco,  which,  in  conjunction  with  the  Russians, 
undertook  to  exploit  the  mines.  Machinery  was  brought  around  from 
the  Eastern  States,  but  the  coal  then  worked  did  not  meet  expectations. 
The  Company's  ships  supplemented  their  services  by  carrying  ice 
from  Sitka  and  Kadiak  to  San  Francisco.  At  first  this  enterprise 
was  profitable,  the  ice  bringing  as  high  as  $75  a  ton. 

The  outbreak  of  the  Crimean  War  very  much  limited  the  transactions 
of  the  Russian- American  Company,  although  it  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment compact  of  neutrality  with  the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  A  few  of 
their  ships  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  the  greatest  loss  being 
that  of  the  "  Sitka,"  which  was  just  about  entering  the  port  of  Kam- 
chatka, after  a  very  successful  voyage,  but  was  brought  to  by  a  British 
cruiser  and  forced  to  surrender.  The  war  also  seriously  interfered 


54  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

with  the  operations  of  the  Russo-Finland  Whaling  Company,  which,  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  chief  manager,  had  been  organized  as  a  means  of 
competing  with  the  American  whalers  who  penetrated  Alaskan  waters, 
and  even  landed  on  the  Aleutian  Islands  to  try  out  the  blubber.  These 
whalers  paid  no  attention  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty  forbidding  either 
English  or  American  ships  to  hunt  or  fish  within  three  marine  leagues 
of  the  shore,  and  the  Company  offered  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a 
Russian  cruiser  stationed  on  the  coast  to  guard  it  against  such  in- 
truders. When  the  estimated  cost  of  its  equipment  and  maintenance 
was  reported  to  the  Company,  however,  they  decided  that  it  ^s  out 
of  the  question. 

The  first  Russian  whaling  ship,  the  "  Suomi,"  was  built  at  Abo 
in  Finland,  and  was  sent  out,  with  a  crew  of  thirty- six  men,  under  a 
German  captain.  The  whale-boats  were  imported  from  New  Bedford. 
Its  first  voyage  resulted  in  a  profit  of  thirteen  thousand  rubles;  but 
on  its  way  home  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  it  narrowly  escaped  cap- 
ture at  the  hands  of  the  English.  Afterwards,  it  was  blockaded  at 
Bremen,  and  was  sold  for  twenty-one  thousand  rubles.  The  second 
ship,  the  *  *  Turko, ' '  had  also  a  narrow  escape.  Under  still  another  Ger- 
man captain,  and  with  a  crew  of  Finlanders,  loaded  with  a  cargo  of 
goods  for  the  Russian- American  Company,  it  reached  Sitka  after  a  tem- 
pestuous voyage.  Its  first  catch  in  Alaskan  waters  was  very  profitable. 
It  underwent  the  famous  siege  of  Petropavlovsk,  where  the  English- 
French  fleet  failed  to  reduce  the  town ;  ran  the  blockade,  and  arrived 
safely  at  Sitka.  The  third  ship,  the  "  Aian,"  after  a  fairly  successful 
catch  of  whales,  was  herself  caught  by  a  British  frigate,  and  burnt. 

Meantime,  the  affairs  of  the  Russian- American  Company  were  going 
from  bad  to  worse.  Looking  back  at  the  opportunities  that  were  pre- 
sented, it  seems  amazing  that  with  such  riches  in  their  hands,  the  man- 
agement should  have  so  egregiously  failed.  But  it  is  in  great  measure 
explained  by  the  fact  that  the  people  in  control  lived  so  far  away,  while 
the  chiefs  sent  out,  one  after  another,  were  not  trained  in  mercantile 
affairs. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ALASKA   BECOMES   UNITED   STATES   TERRITORY. 

THE  Company  tried  in  vain  to  induce  the  Imperial  Government 
to  relieve  it  of  the  expense  of  maintaining  its  authority.  After 
the  Crimean  War,  this  became  a  practical  impossibility,  owing 
to  the  vast  expenditures  that  had  been  wasted  in  the  struggle  with 
France  and  England.  Instead  of  renewing  the  Company's  charter,  the 
Russian  Government,  aware  that  it  could  not  defend  Alaska,  and  never 
desiring  to  occupy  it,  secretly  approached  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment with  an  offer  to  sell  the  Russian  possessions  in  America.  This 
was  first  broached  in  1859.  In  1861  it  was  regarded  as  a  certainty  at 
Sitka,  but  the  Civil  War  was  then  raging,  and  nothing  was  done  about 
it.  Had  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  then  seized  its  opportunity,  Alaska 
would  be  to-day  British  territory.  The  purchase  was  advocated  by  San 
Francisco  speculators,  especially  by  the  American-Russian  Coal  and 
Ice  Company,  which,  being  already  on  the  scene,  had  good  reason  to 
expect  fat  plums  as  the  successor  to  the  Russian- American  Company. 

In  1865,  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  sent  an  expedition 
to  Alaska  to  carry  its  line  up  to  Bering  Strait,  where  it  was  to  be  con- 
nected  with  Siberia  by  a  short  cable.  The  project  was  rendered  need- 
less by  the  successful  laying  of  the  Atlantic  cable,  but  a  considerable 
amount  of  exploration  and  surveying  was  accomplished  by  such  men 
as  Colonel  Bulkley  of  the  United  States  Army,  Mr.  William  H.  Ball, 
and  others,  whose  work  contributed  much  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
country,  and  doubtless  had  the  preponderating  influence  toward  its 
ultimate  purchase.  Robert  Kennicutt,  who  was  director  of  the  scientific 
corps  of  the  expedition,  explored  the  head  waters  of  the  Yukon,  but 


56  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

while  he  was  at  Nulato,  a  place  of  sinister  memories,  he  died  suddenly 
of  heart-failure,  superinduced  by  his  exertions  on  the  day  before  in 
saving  the  life  of  a  Russian  whose  canoe  had  been  caught  in  the  ice. 
He  went  out  early  in  the  morning,  and  his  friends,  alarmed  by  his  long 
absence,  found  his  body  near  the  river.  His  open  compass,  and  cal- 
culations traced  in  the  sand,  showed  that  he  had  been  at  work  even 
to  the  moment  of  his  death.  William  H.  Dall  was  appointed  his  suc- 
cessor, and  conducted  investigations  into  the  ethnology  and  topography 
of  Alaska,  and  his  reports  have  ever  since  been  regarded  as  standard 
sources  of  information. 

In  March,  1867,  just  before  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  William 
H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  was  engaged  in  playing  a  game  of  whist 
with  members  of  his  family,  when  he  was  interrupted  by  a  late  call 
from  Baron  Stoeckl,  the  Russian  ambassador,  who  came  to  announce 
the  arrival  of  a  despatch  from  Petersburg  conveying  the  Emperor's 
assent  to  the  cession  of  Alaska  to  the  United  States.  The  considera- 
tion was  to  be  "a  cash  payment  of  $7,000,000,  with  an  additional 
$200,000  on  condition  that  the  cession  should  be  free  and  unincumbered 
by  any  reservations,  privileges,  franchises  or  possessions  by  any  asso- 
ciated companies,  corporate  or  incorporate,  Russian  or  any  other." 
The  game  of  whist  was  abandoned;  Seward  and  the  Ambassador  col- 
lected their  clerks,  and  before  sunrise  the  treaty  was  ready  for  trans- 
mission to  the  Senate. 

Sumner  said :  —  "  The  present  treaty  is  a  visible  step  in  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  whole  North  American  Continent ;  as  such  it  will  be  recog- 
nized by  the  world,  and  accepted  by  the  American  people.  But  the 
treaty  involves  something  more.  By  it  we  dismiss  one  more  monarch 
from  this  continent.  One  by  one,  they  have  retired ;  first  France,  then 
Spain,  then  France  again,  and  now  Russia  —  all  giving  way  to  that 
absorbing  unity  which  is  declared  in  the  national  motto,  '  E  pluribus 
unum.'  " 

The  treaty,  which  was  adopted  by  the  Senate,  in  spite  of  fierce  oppo- 
sition and  almost  universal  ridicule,  was  signed  in  the  following  May. 


ALASKA  BECOMES  UNITED  STATES  TERRITORY.      57 

The  transfer  of  the  sovereignty  was  attended  by  interesting  formalities. 
United  States  troops  arrived  at  Sitka,  on  the  "  John  L.  Stevens,"  from 
San  Francisco,  on  the  ninth  of  October,  and  found  there  the  gunboats 
"  Jamestown  "  and  "  Kesaca."  On  the  eighteenth,  the  "  Ossipee  " 
arrived,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  General  Jefferson  C. 
Davis,  at  the  head  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  marched  up  to  the 
"  kekur,"  where  stood  Baranof's  stronghold,  over  which  floated  the 
Imperial  Eagles  of  Russia.  There  he  was  met  by  General  George 
Lovell  Rousseau,  United  States  Commissioner,  and  by  Prince  Mat- 
sukof,  acting  chief  manager  and  representative  of  Russia,  with  his  wife, 
Captain  Peshchurof,  and  others. 

The  United  States  fired  the  first  guns,  the  Russians  the  second,  and 
so  on  in  an  alternating  salute,  the  echoes  reverberating  from  the  sides 
of  Mount  Verstovy.  As  the  flag  was  lowered,  the  Princess  burst  into 
tears,  and  the  Russians  felt  all  the  sadness  that  attends  a  failing  cause. 
There  is  a  somewhat  apocryphal  story  told  that  the  flag,  as  if  reluctant 
to  leave  its  proud  eminence  on  the  top  of  a  lofty  pine-tree  staff,  en- 
tangled itself  in  the  halyards.  A  soldier  was  hoisted  to  the  flag  in 
a  boatswain's  chair,  hastily  rigged,  and  detaching  it,  dropped  it  to  the 
ground,  where  it  was  caught  on  the  bayonets  of  the  Russian  troops. 
Then  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  hoisted  to  take  its  place,  and  again 
the  cannon  boomed  from  the  ships  in  the  harbor,  this  time  the  Russians 
leading  in  the  salute.  Then  Captain  Peshchurof,  addressing  General 
Rousseau,  declared  that  by  the  authority  of  his  Majesty,  the  Emperor 
of  Russia,  he  transferred  to  the  United  States  the  territory  of  Alaska. 
The  Americans  present  gave  three  rousing  cheers,  and  the  transaction 
was  done. 

Ivan  Petrof  says :  —  "  The  Princess  Matsukof  wept  at  the  spectacle, 
and  all  nature  seemed  to  keep  her  company,  drenching  to  the  skin  all 
the  participants  in  the  ceremony.  The  native  Indians  in  their  canoes 
witnessed  it  from  a  distance,  listening  stolidly  to  the  booming  of  can- 
non, and  gazing  with  indifference  upon  the  descending  and  ascending 
flags.  Of  the  nature  of  the  proceedings,  they  had  a  faint  and  imperfect 


58  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

conception,  but  one  thing  they  did  realize  —  that  the  country  they  once 
imagined  their  own  was  now  being  transferred  to  a  strange  people, 
by  what  must  have  appeared  to  them  a  sirigulai"  ceremony. ' ' 

He  also  gives  a  lively  picture  of  the  first  activities  of  the  new  pro- 
prietors :  —  "A  number  of  business  men  had  accompanied  or  preceded 
the  commissioners  of  the  two  Governments,  and  the  American  flag  was 
scarcely  floating  from  the  top  of  the  flagstaff  before  new  shops  were 
opened,  vacant  lots  covered  with  the  framework  of  shanties,  and  nego- 
tiations entered  into  for  the  purchase  of  houses,  furs,  and  other  prop- 
erty of  the  old  Eussian  Company,  and  in  less  than  a  week  new  stores 
had  been  erected,  and  two  tenpin  alleys,  two  drinking  saloons,  and  a 
restaurant  were  opened. 

* '  Sitka,  the  town  that  for  two-thirds  of  a  century  had  known  nothing 
beyond  the  dull,  unchanging  routine  of  labor,  and  a  scanty  supply  of 
necessaries  at  prices  fixed  by  a  corporate  body  eight  or  ten  thousand 
miles  away,  was  profoundly  startled  even  by  this  small  ripple  of  inno- 
vation. To  the  new  American  domain  flocked  a  herd  of  men  of  all 
sorts  and  conditions  —  Alaskan  pioneers  and  squatters,  and  aspirants 
for  political  honors  and  emoluments  in  the  new  territory.  Before  the 
first  sunset  gun  was  fired,  preemption  stakes  dotted  the  ground,  and 
the  air  was  full  of  rumors  of  framing  a  '  city  charter,'  creating  laws 
and  remunerative  offices,  and  it  was  not  long  before  an  election  was 
held  for  town  officers,  at  which  over  100  votes  were  polled  for  nearly 
as  many  candidates. 

11  The  Eussian  population  looked  with  wonder  on  this  new  activity. 
The  families  of  the  higher  officials,  as  well  as  those  of  the  farmer  and 
laboring  classes,  opened  their  houses  to  the  newcomers  with  true  Eus- 
sian hospitality;  but,  unfortunately,  they  did  not  discriminate,  treat- 
ing officers,  merchants  and  soldiers  alike,  and  in  many  cases  their  kind- 
ness was  shamefully  abused.  Eobberies  and  assaults  were  the  order 
of  the  day,  or  rather  of  the  night,  until  the  peaceable  inhabitants  were 
compelled  to  lock  their  doors  at  nightfall,  not  daring  to  move  about 
until  the  bugle  sounded  in  the  morning.  .  .  . 


ALASKA  BECOMES  UNITED  STATES  TERRITORY.      61 

"  The  Russian- American  Company  was  allowed  two  years  in  which  to 
settle  its  affairs  and  to  transport  all  the  Russian  subjects  who  wished 
to  return.  For  this  purpose,  all  its  employees  distributed  throughout 
the  territory  were  collected  at  Sitka,  and  from  the  time  of  the  transfer 
to  1869  nearly  a  thousand  were  living  there;  and  to  these  between 
$40,000  and  $50,000  were  paid  every  month  as  salaries,  which,  being 
regularly  spent  before  the  next  pay-day,  made  business  decidedly  brisk. 
In  addition  to  these  Russians,  there  were  two  companies  of  soldiers 
and  a  few  hundred  American  and  other  traders,  while  a  man-of-war 
and  a  revenue  cutter  were  always  in  the  harbor,  yielding  a  golden 
harvest  to  business  men  and  saloon  keepers." 

For  Alaska,  now  began  a  tragic  period  that  lasted  for  a  third  of  a 
century,  and  can  hardly  be  said,  even  now,  to  have  resolved  into  an  ideal 
condition  of  affairs. 

The  princess  of  the  fairy  tale,  whose  dowry  was  to  be  imperial,  was 
utterly  neglected  by  her  cruel  and  heedless  foster-mother.  Finally, 
not  through  any  sense  of  justice  or  decency,  but  because  of  her  coming 
into  her  own,  was  something  done  to  clothe  her  decently  and  protect 
her  against  those  who  had  pillaged  her,  and  were  ready  to  continue 
their  evil  practices. 

For  a  few  years  after  the  occupation  of  Alaska  by  the  United  States, 
detachments  of  the  army  were  stationed  at  various  points,  but  their 
duties  were  not  specified  by  law.  Within  a  month,  difficulties  arose 
between  the  garrison  at  Sitka  and  the  Indians.  A  sentry,  stationed 
near  the  powder-magazine,  fired  on  natives  prowling  around,  and 
wounded  one  of  them.  The  next  day  their  chief,  in  accordance  with  the 
Indian  custom,  demanded  a  pecuniary  compensation  from  General 
Davis,  who  refused  it.  Thereupon,  the  chief  retired  to  his  village  and 
raised  the  English  flag.  Davis  threatened  to  bombard  the  village,  and 
the  Indians  accordingly  came  to  terms. 

Two  years  later,  in  January,  1869,  a  party  of  Chilkat  Indians  were 
at  Sitka.  It  is  said  their  chief  was  presented  with  several  bottles  of 
whiskey,  which,  of  course,  had  its  usual  effect.  It  brought  about  a 


62  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

conflict  between  the  Indians  and  the  military.  Several  of  the  natives, 
belonging  to  three  different  tribes,  were  killed.  They  also  demanded 
payment,  and  when  it  was  refused,  they  began  to  make  reprisals  — 
life  for  life.  Two  prospectors,  who  had  ventured  into  the  country  of 
the  Kekhs,  were  killed.  The  report  came  that  the  crew  of  a  wrecked 
schooner  had  been  massacred.  General  Davis  sent  the  "  Saginaw  ?: 
to  avenge  the  supposed  outrage.  Three  deserted  villages  were  utterly 
destroyed.  It  was  afterwards  learned  that  the  Indians,  instead  of 
having  perpetrated  any  cruelty  on  the  shipwrecked  sailors,  had  rescued 
them  and  treated  them  kindly.  After  this,  there  were  sporadic  in- 
stances of  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  generally  caused  by  the 
misbehavior  of  uncontrolled  adventurers  —  especially  through  the  sale 
of  liquor  to  the  natives. 

The  history  of  the  United  States  army  in  Alaska  is  difficult  to  disen- 
tangle. Many  writers,  undoubtedly  influenced  by  the  interested  criti- 
cism of  those  who  came  into  conflict  with  its  regulations,  are  inclined 
to  blame  the  men  for  all  sorts  of  irregularities.  One  writer  charges  the 
commander-in-<chief  with  having  furnished  native  chiefs  with  whiskey. 
William  Gouverneur  Morris,  who  was  Special  Agent  of  the  Treasury 
Department  in  1877,  in  his  report  to  the  Secretary,  wrote  regarding 
drunkenness :  — 

"  One  of  the  direct  evils  of  this  detestable  vice  has  been  the  de- 
bauchery and  degradation  of  the  native  women  by  a  licentious  soldiery. 
Never  particularly  noted  for  an  excess  of  virtue,  they  have  become 
victims  to  their  appetite  for  strong  drink  and  inordinate  lust,  and  they 
have  fallen  victims  to  the  general  contagion  and  ruin.  I  am  aware 
this  charge  will  provoke  adverse  criticism  in  certain  quarters,  and  it 
is  more  particularly  attributable  to  the  years  immediately  succeeding 
the  Russian  purchase,  with  the  advent  of  our  troops,  than  when  later 
garrisoned.  But  successful  contradiction  is  invited.  The  facts  are  too 
naked  to  bear  the  light  of  investigation/' 

On  the  other  hand,  General  A.  W.  Greely,  in  his  admirable  handbook 
on  Alaska,  says :  — 


ALASKA  BECOMES  UNITED  STATES  TERRITORY.      63 

"  The  activity  of  the  army  in  carrying  ont  its  orders  elicited  bitter 
criticism.  Keporting  on  the  affairs  at  the  Seal  Islands,  prior  to  the 
lease  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company,  it  incurred  enmity  by  offi- 
cially stating  that  the  Pribilof  natives  were  suffering  '  enslavement 
and  robbery  by  an  unscrupulous  ring  of  speculators.'  As  Indian  wars 
gave  local  traders  patronage  and  contracts,  the  tendencies  to  adjust 
troubles  peacefully  with  the  natives  were  viewed  askant  as  unmilitary 
and  unbusinesslike.  To  stimulate  industry  among  the  natives,  it  was 
recommended  that  Indians  be  hired  to  cut  wood,  which  resulted  in 
attacks  from  interested  contractors.  The  army's  insistence  that 
Alaska  was  an  Indian  country,  where  neither  firearms  nor  liquor  could 
be  imported,  was  bitterly  fought  by  traders  and  politicians  before  the 
department,  and  it  was  years  before  the  army's  point  of  view  was 
sustained  by  Congress  and  the  courts.  .  .  . 

'  *  Finally  —  happy  day  for  the  service,  though  not  for  the  territory 
—  the  army  sailed  away  from  Alaska,  after,  as  we  are  told  by  a  well- 
known  writer,  a  service  not  highly  creditable.  This  local  judgment  was 
natural,  since  the  business  methods  of  many  of  the  early  Alaskan  cap- 
tains of  industry  did  not  accord  with  the  army  ideals  as  to  probity  and 
propriety. 

"  The  army's  sins  of  omission  and  commission  were  not  specified, 
but  what  it  did  may  be  stated.  It  had  brought  the  Indians  into  a  state 
of  submission  and  peace  —  its  military  duty.  Moreover,  it  had  fed  the 
starving,  cared  for  the  suffering,  and  nursed  the  sick;  it  had  largely 
suppressed  smuggling  and  illegal  trade  in  arms  and  liquor;  it  had 
discouraged  corrupt  business  methods,  and  protested  against  the  en- 
slavement and  robbery  of  natives ;  it  had  vainly  besought  civil  govern- 
ment and  open  day  schools;  finally,  it  had  fostered  morality  by  relig- 
ious teaching  of  children,  established  the  first  Protestant  Church  in 
Alaska,  and  by  its  initiative,  led  the  Christian  people  of  the  United 
States  to  extend  a  helping  hand  to  the  native  of  Alaska.  These  deeds 
are  not  strictly  military  duties,  and  while  they  are  extra-legal  acts 


64  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

without  warrant  of  law,  they  were  justified  by  the  law  of  emergency, 
and  impelled  by  the  obligation  of  our  higher  moral  nature. ' ' 

The  withdrawal  of  the  troops  from  Alaska  was  recommended  by 
General  McDowell,  who  considered  that  it  was  in  the  interest  of  econ- 
omy. He  felt  that  the  acquisition  of  such  a  detached  territory  was  a 
detriment  to  the  United  States ;  he  regarded  it  as  of  little  value,  and 
he  would  even  have  given  it  away  for  nothing  to  any  country  that  would 
burden  itself  with  its  acceptance.  Although  he  acknowledged  that  the 
"  dozen  or  more  whites  and  several  hundred  scrawny  half-breeds  who 
were  there  at  the  time  of  the  purchase  "  ought  fairly  to  be  protected, 
he  thought  that  three  companies  would  be  sufficient  to  enforce  the 
authority  of  the  Government,  for  he  did  not  believe  that  there  was  any 
especial  danger  to  fear  from  the  Indians  more  than  from  the  whites 
toward  one  another. 

There  was  certainly  little  to  fear  from  the  natives  as  long  as  they 
were  held  in  awe  by  a  show  of  military  force,  but  as  soon  as  the  troops 
were  withdrawn,  an  entirely  different  condition  obtained.  Mr.  Morris 
wrote :  — "  The  Russians  exercised  over  the  inhabitants  of  Alaska 
despotic  sway,  and  held  them  in  absolute  subjection.  They  treated 
them  as  brutes,  and  flogged  them  unmercifully  for  theft  and  petty  mis- 
demeanors. They  punished  crime  promptly  with  severe  corporal  chas- 
tisement or  imprisonment,  and  regarded  the  Indians  as  not  more  than 
one  degree  removed  from  dumb  beasts.  They  held  the  power  of  life 
and  death  over  their  subjects.  They  had  over  two  thousand  soldiers, 
employees,  and  retainers  ready  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  supreme  local 
authority.  Ships  of  war  were  always  at  hand  to  bombard  the  villages 
into  submission.  The  people  were  thus  completely  at  the  mercy  of  their 
rulers. 

"  When  the  sale  to  the  United  States  took  place,  the  forts  were 
garrisoned  with  federal  soldiers,  new  posts  were  located  and  built,  and 
for  years  the  country  was  under  strict  military  rule.  The  Indians  were 
taught  several  severe  lessons  by  the  soldiery  and  the  gunboats,  and 
they  continued,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  in  their  condition  of  serf- 


ALASKA  BECOMES  UNITED  STATES  TERRITORY.      65 

dom  until  the  country  was  formally  abandoned  by  the  "War  Department, 
and  subsequently  transferred  to  the  sole  control  of  the  Treasury. 

"  Suddenly  they  awoke  to  the  knowledge  that  they  were  free  men; 
that  as  far  as  outward  appearances  were  concerned,  there  was  no  power 
or  authority  to  interfere  with  their  acts.  They  saw  the  outward 
change  of  things,  and  that  the  pomp  and  panoply  of  war  had  departed. 
They  beheld  the  white  man,  Boston  man  and  King  George  man,  black 
man,  yellow  man,  Chinaman,  Indian,  Aleut  Eskimo,  and  men  of  all 
colors,  nationality  and  nativity,  all  associating  together  upon  the  com- 
mon terms  of  sweet  republican  simplicity.  There  was  no  authority  at 
hand  to  punish  the  evil  doer,  no  power  to  redress  savage  enormities." 

Mr.  Morris  went  on  to  relate  the  result  of  an  attempt  to  land  some 
Chinese  at  Sitka.  It  is  interesting  as  showing  how  the  natives  antici- 
pated the  objection  of  the  whole  Pacific  coast  to  such  rivalry.  He  had 
taken  passage  on  the  "  California,"  intending  to  pay  a  visit  to  some 
distant  fisheries.  He  says :  — 

4 '  I  found  on  board  the  whole  outfit  and  paraphernalia  of  the  cannery 
intended  by  Mr.  Hunter  to  be  established  at  Sitka.  He  had  some  white 
employee^  and  eighteen  Chinamen,  who  were  hired  exclusively  to  man- 
ufacture the  cans.  Upon  reaching  Sitka,  as  usual,  the  whole  tribe,  more 
or  less,  were  found  congregated  on  the  wharf.  As  soon  as  the  China- 
men were  descried,  a  general  howl  arose,  and  the  wildest  excitement 
was  manifested.  Before  the  lines  were  made  fast,  runners  started  for 
the  village,  and  the  whole  beach  suddenly  became  in  instant  commotion. 
Old  and  young,  lame,  halt  and  blind,  all  started  pell-mell  for  the  '  Hea- 
then Chinese. ' 

"  Annah  Hoots,  the  war  chief,  made  a  most  inflammatory  speech 
to  the  young  bucks,  to  the  effect  that  the  Chinamen  should  not  be  per- 
mitted to  land.  Sitka  Jack  was  present  as  a  quiet  spectator,  seemingly 
not  interested  in  the  proceedings,  but  I  could  see  he  was  taking  every- 
thing in,  and  kept  quiet  in  order  to  be  more  respected  as  the  row  pro- 
gressed. 

"  Annah  Hoots  could  not  speak  Chinook,  so  Mr.  Keen  had  to  first 


66  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

translate  my  words,  and  those  of  Mr.  Hunter,  into  that  language,  to 
Jack,  who  subsequently  repeated  them  to  Annah  Hoots  in  his  own 
tongue.  This  took  up  much  time,  but  the  Indians,  instead  of  calming 
down,  became  more  and  more  excited.  The  situation  was  critical,  and 
I  firmly  believe,  had  the  Chinamen  landed  before  a  proper  understand- 
ing was  had,  every  man  of  them  would  have  been  ruthlessly  murdered, 
and  God  only  knows,  when  the  sharks  had  tasted  blood,  where  it  would 
have  ended. ' ' 

It  was  finally  made  plain  to  the  Indians,  who  really  were  very  desir- 
ous of  having  the  cannery  established,  that  the  Chinamen  were  not 
there  to  invade  their  privileges,  that  the  plan  was  to  buy  all  the  fish 
of  the  Indians,  that  the  Chinamen  were  to  be  sent  away  as  soon  as  they 
had  finished  making  the  tin  cans.  Mr.  Morris  concludes  his  story :  — 

' '  Mr.  Keen  very  adroitly  impressed  upon  those  present  the  folly  of 
their  course,  and  I  am  satisfied  it  was  owing  a  great  deal  to  the  tact  and 
judgment  displayed  by  him  that  we  succeeded  as  well  as  we  did.  I 
had  but  little  to  say,  only  to  remind  them  that  the  *  man-of-war  '  was 
not  far  off,  lying  at  Wrangell,  and  if  they  wanted  a  little  gunnery  prac- 
tice, they  should  be  speedily  entertained. 

"  After  a  long  powwow,  a  calm  succeeded  the  storm;  good  humor 
as  suddenly  prevailed  as  their  angry  passions  had  become  inflamed, 
and  order  reigned  in  Warsaw. 

"  In  a  very  short  time,  as  many  Indians  as  could  be  profitably  set 
to  work  were  hired  by  Mr.  Hunter  to  discharge  his  material.  The 
Chinamen  landed  in  perfect  security,  walked  up  town,  hired  a  cabin 
from  one  of  the  tribe,  purchased  wood,  and  by  nightfall  were  snugly 
domiciled,  with  half  a  dozen  dusky  klootchmen  or  squaws  squatted  on 
the  floor,  and  enjoying  their  fish  and  rice. 

"  Thus  ended  what  might  have  proved  a  very  serious  affair.  But 
it  only  goes  to  show  how  utterly  helpless  are  the  white  population  when 
the  anger  of  the  natives  is  aroused. ' ' 

The  very  next  year,  1878,  there  being  not  even  a  revenue  cutter  in 
the  harbor  of  Sitka,  the  Indians  began  to  behave  very  insolently.  They 


ALASKA  BECOMES  UNITED  STATES  TERRITORY.      67 

defaced  the  graves  in  the  Russian  cemetery,  pulled  down  stockades, 
and  committed  other  outrages.  The  cause  of  the  trouble  is  said  to  have 
been  the  refusal  of  Colonel  Ball,  collector  of  customs  at  Sitka,  to  pay 
six  thousand  blankets  as  indemnity  for  the  lives  of  six  Kake-se-tee  men 
employed  as  sealers  on  the  wrecked  schooner  "  San  Diego."  The  chief 
of  the  tribe  then  demanded  six  white  men's  lives,  and  when  that  also 
was  refused,  he  prepared  to  attack  the  settlement.  The  Russian  women 
and  children  were  sent  to  the  home  of  the  priest ;  the  Americans  were 
housed  in  the  custom  house.  The  men  were  armed  and  prepared  to 
sell  their  lives  dearly.  Annah  Hoots  took  the  side  of  the  Americans, 
and  went  out  with  some  of  his  clan  to  meet  the  attacking  party.  An 
engagement  took  place. 

Before  Kath-le-an,  who  went  off  for  reenforcements,  returned,  the 
British  man-of-war  "  Osprey  "  arrived  in  Sitka  and  furnished  the 
inhabitants  protection.  The  fact  that  American  citizens  had  been 
obliged  to  appeal  for  aid  to  the  soldiers  of  another  nation  was  mortify- 
ing, and  having  been  severely  criticized  by  the  press  of  the  country, 
led  to  the  station  of  a  United  States  war-vessel  in  the  harbor  of  Sitka. 

All  authorities  agree  as  to  the  shameful  neglect  of  Alaska  and  its 
inhabitants,  both  native  and  immigrant,  by  the  United  States  after 
the  country  had  been  adopted.  There  were  no  courts  for  the  settlement 
of  lawsuits,  no  laws  which  could  be  invoked ;  there  was  no  jurisdiction 
to  decide  title  to  lands;  any  man  preempting  a  holding,  and  making 
expensive  improvements,  was  likely  to  be  ousted  on  the  strength  of 
a  ruling  by  the  Secretary  of  State  that  "  such  claims  and  settlements 
are  not  only  without  the  sanction  of  law,  but  are  in  direct  violation 
of  the  provisions  of  the  laws  of  Congress  applicable  to  the  public  do- 
main secured  to  the  United  States  by  any  treaty  made  with  a  foreign 
nation;  and  if  deemed  necessary  and  advisable,  military  force  may 
be  used  to  remove  the  intruders."  No  patent  could  be  obtained  to 
mining,  milling,  or  lumbering  properties.  No  provision  was  made  for 
the  conveyance  of  real  estate,  and  no  arrangements  for  any  records. 
No  mortgages  could  be  made.  A  man  dying  in  Alaska  could  not  dis- 


68  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

pose  of  his  property  there  by  will.  There  were  no  probate  courts  or 
judges.  It  was  said  that  "  a  man  might  be  murdered  in  Alaska,  his 
will  be  forged,  and  his  estate  scattered  to  the  four  winds,  and  there 
would  be  no  power  to  give  redress."  No  debts  could  be  collected. 
There  were  no  mail  facilities. 

In  such  a  condition  of  lawlessness,  it  is  no  wonder  that  a  writer  like 
General  Greely  declared  that  "  civil  conditions  after  the  departure  of 
the  army  can  not  be  recounted  without  a  sense  of  shame.  A  pande- 
monium of  drunkenness,  disorder,  property  destruction  and  personal 
violence  obtained  at  Sitka,  which  eventuated  in  murder,  followed  by 
a  threatened  Indian  uprising,  and  frantic  appeals  for  protection,  which 
was  temporarily  accorded  by  a  British  man-of-war."  Nor  is  it  any 
wonder  that  Mr.  Dall  should  call  Alaska  "  a  country  where  no  man 
could  make  a  legal  will,  own  a  homestead  or  transfer  it,  or  so  much 
as  cut  wood  for  his  fire  without  defying  a  Congressional  prohibition; 
where  polygamy  and  slavery,  and  the  lynching  of  whites  prevailed,  and 
no  legal  authority  to  stay  or  punish  criminals. ' ' 

Attempts  were  made  to  induce  Congress  to  act,  but,  apparently,  no 
one  had  sufficient  interest  or  eloquence  to  melt  the  indifference.  In 
August,  1878,  the  "  San  Francisco  Chronicle,"  after  telling  some  of 
the  outrageous  acts  perpetrated  in  Alaska,  within  three  hundred  yards 
of  the  seat  of  United  States  authority,  said :  —  * '  It  is  a  national  shame 
and  disgrace  that  such  a  condition  of  lawlessness  should  be  suffered  to 
exist  in  a  Territory  of  the  United  States,  and  Congress  can  not  under- 
take a  more  creditable  work  of  legislation  than  providing  a  government 
for  the  people  of  that  outlying  territory  of  our  common  country." 

In  October,  1877,  I.  C.  Dennis,  the  alert  and  courageous  collector 
of  customs  at  Fort  Wrangel,  sent  in  a  petition  signed  by  many  resi- 
dents, and  accompanied  by  a  dignified  letter  of  protest.  He  said :  — 

"  This  petition  is  not  our  first  effort  in  striving  to  be  recognized 
by  the  Government  as  a  people  having  rights  worthy  of  consideration. 
We  have  petitioned  and  repetitioned  to  the  heads  at  "Washington  to 
do  something  for  us,  and  thus  far  our  petitions  have  accomplished 


ALASKA  BECOMES  UNITED  STATES  TERRITORY.      69 

nothing ;  hence  we  try  again,  and  our  prayer  is  that  the  present  Con- 
gress will  enact  a  law  whereby  whites  and  Indians  in  Alaska  may 
obtain  justice.  We,  as  American  citizens,  claim  an  inalienable  right 
that  we  are  entitled  to  protection  in  life  and  property.  Ten  years  have 
elapsed  since  the  acquisition  by  our  Government  of  this  country,  and 
during  that  time  the  Government  has  neither  encouraged  nor  sanc- 
tioned the  development  of  its  resources.  Nothing  has  been  done  toward 
improving  the  condition  of  its  inhabitants,  either  intellectually  or  mor- 
ally. All  that  has  been  done  has  had  a  tendency  to  stagnate  our  com- 
merce, impede  enterprise,  and  debase  and  demoralize  the  native  inhab- 
itants." 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE   MAGIC    WAND   OF   GOLD. 

FROM  the  first  appointment,  in  1868,  of  treasury  officials  to  look 
after  customs  receipts,  it  was  evident  that  the  new  region  was 
going  to  pay  handsomely  as  an  investment.    The  Alaska  Com- 
mercial Company,  which  succeeded  the  Russian- American  Company, 
assumed  the  lease  of  the  Pribilof  Islands,  and,  in  1869,  agreed  to  pay 
a  tax  on  seal  skins  and  an  annual  rental.    The  amounts  paid  by  this 
company  alone,  up  to  June,  1876,  amounted  to  nearly  two  millions 
of  dollars.    But  this  large  return  did  not  awaken  Congress.    That  was 
effected  only  by  the  discovery  of  gold,  in  ever  increasing  quantities. 

In  1884,  the  laws  of  Oregon  were  extended  to  Alaska;  a  governor 
was  appointed;  also  commissioners,  and  district  courts  were  estab- 
lished ;  that  is  to  say,  these  improvements  existed  on  paper ;  the  means 
for  carrying  them  out  was  not  provided.  Not  until  1899,  when  the  gold 
production  alone  had  risen  to  almost  six  million  dollars  a  year,  did 
Congress  grant  Alaska  its  first  penal  code,  and  a  code  of  criminal  pro- 
cedure. The  following  year  it  provided  a  civil  government,  made  the 
Territory  a  civil  and  judicial  district,  and  moved  the  capital  from  Sitka 
to  Juneau.  The  powers  of  the  governor  were  enlarged;  provision  was 
made  for  caring  for  the  insane;  district  courts  were  established  for 
three  districts;  some  attempts  were  made  to  settle  the  land  question, 
and  to  provide  for  secondary  education.  In  1906,  when  the  gold  pro- 
duction reached  the  amount  of  more  than  twenty-two  millions,  Alaska 
was  finally  recognized  as  a  Territory  entitled  to  representation  in 
Congress,  but  it  had  no  legislative  body,  and  still  depends  on  Congress 
for  all  law  and  legislation. 

70 


THE    MAGIC    WAND    OF    GOLD.  71 

It  is  certainly  a  romance  of  history,  that  this  once  despised  land, 
which  sensible  men  proposed  to  call  "  Walrussia  "  and  "  Icebergia," 
should,  within  less  than  twenty  years,  have  added  to  the  resources  of 
the  world  in  gold,  one  hundred  and  forty-two  millions,  and  nearly 
forty  millions  in  seal  skins ;  while  the  grand  total  from  furs,  fisheries, 
and  minerals,  from  1868  to  1908,  amounted  to  three  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  million,  five  hundred  and  fifty-three  thousand,  six  hun- 
dred and  thirty-seven  dollars ;  to  say  nothing  of  a  constantly  growing 
import  trade  in  coal,  lumber,  hardware  and  machinery,  provisions, 
liquors  and  the  like,  which  amounted  to  nearly  sixty  millions  of  dollars 
in  the  last  four  years. 

Is  it  not  strange,  that  in  view  of  all  this,  in  the  very  latest  authori- 
tative book  on  Alaska,  the  author  should  be  compelled  to  make  this 
arraignment  of  Congress :  — 

' '  Judicial  provisions  are  still  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  the  country. 
In  default  of  a  supreme  territorial  court,  appeals  necessarily  go  to 
the  Ninth  Circuit  of  the  United  States  Court  of  Appeals,  causing  seri- 
ous delays  and  enhanced  expenses.  The  Aleutian  Islands  are  practi- 
cally without  courts,  and  the  enormous  area  of  the  third  judicial  dis- 
trict—  the  Tanana  and  Yukon  valleys  —  overtaxes  the  judge,  delays 
trials,  and  enormously  increases  costs.  Minor  cases  are  tried  before 
United  States  commissioners  —  stationed  at  about  forty  points  —  who 
are  appointed  and  are  removable  by  the  district  judges.  The  power 
of  the  commissioners  is  great,  as  they  are  committing  magistrates,  can 
try  civil  cases  involving  values  to  one  thousand  dollars,  and  criminal 
cases  of  certain  classes,  where  not  exceeding  a  year's  imprisonment 
may  be  imposed.  They  are  also  empowered  to  perform  almost  every 
kind  of  judicial  act  pertaining  to  their  own  localities." 

This  El  Dorado  of  the  north  has  a  hundred  fold  justified  the  pre- 
dictions of  Sunnier  and  Seward.  Had  men  of  equal  foresight  and 
ability  been  in  Congress  at  the  time  of  the  so-called  Oregon  compromise 
treaty,  British  Columbia  might  have  been  retained  by  the  United 
States,  and  the  whole  Pacific  coast  from  Southern  California  to  Bering 


72  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

Strait  would  have  been  an  integral  part  of  the  United  States.  But 
even  granting  that  the  claims  of  the  United  States  were  justified,  and 
that  the  whole  disputed  territory  was  ours,  one  need  hardly  go  so  far 
as  to  call  it  an  ' '  infamous  ' '  treaty.  The  country  was  better  governed 
by  Canada  than  it  would  have  been  had  the  United  States  taken  pos- 
session of  it,  and  the  power  and  wealth  of  a  friendly  neighboring 
country  is  probably  as  advantageous  to  us  as  if  we  owned  it. 

The  Alaska  purchase  gave  the  United  States  a  strip  of  land,  ten 
marine  leagues  in  width,  from  the  Portland  Canal,  that  is  to  say,  the 
southern  limit  of  Alaska,  to  the  vicinity  of  Mount  St.  Elias.  After 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  the  Klondike,  the  Canadians  put  forth  the 
claim  that  the  so-called  ' '  lisiere  ' '  should  be  measured  from  the  general 
direction  of  the  coast,  and  not  from  the  head  of  the  various  inlets. 
This  question  came  up  during  the  session  of  the  Joint  High  Commis- 
sion on  the  settlement  of  pelagic  fur  sealing,  and  the  British  and 
Canadian  members  suggested  that  the  United  States  should  transfer 
to  Canada,  Pyramid  Harbor,  the  best  on  that  coast,  and  a  strip  of  land 
across  the  "  lisiere,"  thus  giving  a  desirable  route  to  the  Yukon.  The 
question  came  up  again  in  1903,  and  the  majority  of  the  Commissioners 
decided  that  the  Canadians  had  no  right  to  the  waters  of  any  of  the 
inlets,  and  that  the  original  treaty  between  Eussia  and  Great  Britain 
meant  that  the  strip  transferred  to  the  United  States  was  intended  to 
separate  the  bays,  ports,  inlets,  and  waters  of  the  Pacific,  north  of 
British  Columbia,  from  the  British  possessions. 

Had  the  United  States  Congress  realized  that  climatic  conditions 
in  the  far  northwest  corresponded  generally  to  those  in  the  northwest 
of  Europe,  that  the  influence  of  the  warm  Kuro  Siwo,  or  Japan  current, 
is  much  the  same  on  the  coast  of  British  Columbia  and  of  Alaska  as 
that  of  the  Gulf  Stream  is  on  France  and  England,  there  might  have 
been  more  interest  felt  in  those  distant  regions. 

The  first  gold  production  from  Alaska,  of  any  account,  was  extracted 
from  placers  at  Wiudham  Bay  and  Powers  Creek,  north  of  Fort  Wran- 
gel.  Miners,  who  had  been  disappointed  in  the  newly  discovered  Cas- 


THE    MAGIC    WAND    OF    GOLD.  73 

siar  mines,  went  prospecting  and  took  out  about  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  in  1870.  Ten  years  later,  Joe  Juneau  and  Richard  Harris 
were  sent  by  N.  A.  Fuller  of  Sitka  to  investigate  the  coastal  belt  be- 
tween "Windham  Bay  and  Sullivan  Island  in  Southeastern  Alaska.  By 
the  middle  of  August  they  reached  Gold  Creek,  and  found  rich  gravels 
and  quartz  containing  free  gold.  From  ledges  which  they  investigated, 
they  brought  away  nearly  half  a  ton  of  ore,  and  staking  six  placer 
claims  and  a  dozen  and  more  quartz  claims  for  their  employers  and 
themselves,  they  returned  with  their  prize  to  Sitka  in  November.  In 
spite  of  approaching  winter,  a  stampede  of  excited  miners  followed. 
Many  locations  were  made,  and  this  was  the  beginning  of  the  present 
capital  of  Alaska.  The  following  year,  the  "  Treadwell  "  and  other 
paying  mines  were  located,  and  the  town  had  a  permanent  population. 
Its  first  name  was  Rockwell,  afterwards  Harrisburg,  but  the  seventy- 
two  miners  who  held  a  meeting  in  December,  1881,  voted  to  call  it 
Juneau,  in  honor  of  the  elder  of  the  two  discoverers,  and  the  district 
was  called  after  Harris.  In  two  years'  time,  Juneau  was  the  mining 
centre  of  Alaska. 

The  famous  Paris  lode,  on  Douglas  Island,  was  transferred  to  John 
Treadwell  by  its  original  discoverer  for  the  sum  of  five  dollars.  Before 
the  new  owner, could  establish  his  rights  to  hard-rock  mining,  placer- 
miners,  who  disputed  them,  had  washed  out  several  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  free  gold.  Many  of  them  made  handsome  returns  with  an 
ordinary  shovel  and  sluice-box. 

The  ore  was  of  not  very  high  grade,  and  a  number  of  stamps  were 
erected,  at  large  expense,  and  never  worked.  Treadwell,  however,  as- 
sociated with  himself  San  Francisco  capitalists,  and,  after  obtaining 
what  was  regarded  as  sufficient  ore  to  warrant  the  expenditure,  a  mill 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty  stamps  was  erected  in  1887.  The  returns 
from  the  Treadwell  properties  had  amounted  to  not  less  than  twenty 
four  million  dollars  in  1903.  That  was  exclusive  of  returns  from  other 
mines  in  the  same  belt. 

The  most  exciting  and  dramatic  episode  in  the  history  of  Alaska 


74  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

was  the  discovery  of  gold  on  the  shores  of  that  desolate  far  northern 
district  separating  Bering  Sea  from  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  now  named 
Seward  Peninsula,  in  honor  of  the  great  Secretary  of  State.  Mr. 
Alfred  H.  Brooks,  in  his  interesting  sketch  of  the  mining  industry  of 
the  Seward  Peninsula,  says :  — 

"  A  decade  ago,  Seward  Peninsula  was  little  more  than  a  barren 
waste,  unpeopled  except  for  a  few  hundred  Eskimos  and  a  score  of 
white  men,  whereas  it  is  now  the  scene  of  intense  commercial  activity, 
supporting  a  permanent  population  of  three  or  four  thousand  people, 
which  in  summer  is  more  than  doubled.  Then,  the  igloo  of  the  Eskimos 
and  a  mission  were  the  only  permanent  habitations ;  now,  a  well-built 
town,  with  all  the  adjuncts  of  civilization,  looks  out  on  Bering  Sea, 
and  a  dozen  smaller  settlements  are  scattered  through  the  peninsula. 
This  region,  which  then  produced  nothing  except  a  few  furs,  now  in- 
creases the  wealth  of  the  world  annually  by  nearly  eight  million  dollars. 
A  decade  ago,  the  only  communication  with  the  civilized  world  was 
through  the  annual  visit  of  the  Arctic  whaling  fleet  and  the  revenue 
cutter ;  now,  a  score  of  ocean  liners  ply  between  Nome  and  Puget  Sound 
during  the  summer  months,  and  even  in  winter  a  weekly  mail  service 
is  maintained  by  dog  teams.  Moreover,  military  telegraph  lines,  cables 
and  wireless  systems,  and  a  private  telephone  system,  keep  all  parts 
of  the  peninsula  in  close  touch  with  the  outer  world.  Railways,  con- 
necting some  of  the  inland  mining  centres  with  tide  water,  traverse 
regions  which  a  few  years  ago  were  almost  unknown  to  white  men." 

The  first  survey  of  the  coast  line  of  the  Seward  Peninsula  was  made 
by  Captain  Cook  in  1778.  Russians  naturally  first  encountered  this 
region  because  its  westernmost  point,  Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  lies  almost 
within  sight  of  Siberia.  Their  first  trading-post  was  established  on 
St.  Michael's  Island  in  1835,  but  little  was  done  toward  exploring  the 
interior  until  thirty  years  later,  when  Baron  von  Bendeleben,  in  search- 
ing for  a  practical  telegraph  route,  ascended  the  Niukluk  River,  crossed 
the  portage  to  the  Kruzgamepa  and  reached  Port  Clarence,  where  the 
whaling  fleet  had  its  summer  rendezvous.  According  to  William  H. 


THE  MAGIC  WAND  OF  GOLD.  75 

Libby,  who  was  a  member  of  this  expedition,  Baron  von  Bendeleben 
found  alluvial  gold  on  the  Niukluk  Elver,  but  little  importance  was 
attributed  to  this  discovery.  In  1881,  John  C.  Green,  with  a  party 
of  natives,  traced  the  source  of  the  leaden  bullets  that  were  in  use  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  peninsula.  He  followed  up  the  river  that  emp- 
ties into  Golofnin  Bay,  and  there  located  the  mine  of  Galena,  and  or- 
ganized a  company  to  exploit  it,  under  the  title  of  the  Alaska  Gold 
and  Silver,  Milling  and  Trading  Company.  Some  ore  was  shipped, 
but  the  mine  is  said  never  to  have  paid  its  expenses. 

An  employee  of  the  company,  named  Sanderson,  found  alluvial  gold 
on  the  Niukluk  in  1892 ;  natives  also  had  reported  its  presence  in  the 
Nome  region.  Even  when  the  luring  wealth  of  the  Klondike  gold 
placers  drew  men  by  the  tens  of  thousands  to  the  interior  of  Alaska, 
and  bands  of  prospectors,  enduring  every  kind  of  hardship,  were 
searching  all  the  tributaries  of  the  mighty  Yukon,  the  rumors  of  gold 
on  the  Seward  Peninsula  had  not  as  yet  spread  beyond  its  confines. 

Prospectors,  who  had  failed,  gradually  drifted  into  this  region. 
About  fifteen  hundred  men  tried  their  fortune  in  the  region  of  Kotze- 
bue  Sound,  north  of  the  peninsula,  and  failing,  made  their  way  to 
John  Dexter 's  trading  post  on  Golofnin  Bay.  Dexter  had  taught  some 
of  the  natives  how  to  wash  out  a  pan  of  dirt,  and  an  Eskimo,  named 
Tom  Guarick,  while  on  a  fishing  or  hunting  trip,  in  August,  1897, 
brought  back  a  half  ounce  of  gold  dust  which  he  had  found  on  Ophir 
Creek.  In  the  following  September,  Daniel  B.  Libby,  who  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Bendeleben  expedition  of  1866,  and  three  other  men, 
who  had  been  sent  by  San  Francisco  capitalists  to  try  their  luck  in 
"  grub- staking, "  landed  at  Golofnin  Bay  and  saw  this  gold.  They 
engaged  the  Eskimo,  Tom  Guarick,  as  a  guide,  and  he  led  them  to  the 
creek,  where  they  found  that  his  discovery  was  no  dream.  They,  and 
other  adventurers,  spent  months  in  prospecting,  and  in  April  of  the 
next  year  called  a  "  miners'  meeting  and  organized  the  *  Discovery 
District,'  "  and  elected  a  recorder;  all  in  accordance  with  the  estab- 
lished custom  in  such  cases.  Although  the  miners  were  ill-equipped 


76  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

for  their  work,  they  managed  to  make  sluice-boxes  from  the  spruce 
timber  which  the  region  provided,  and  these  pioneers,  who  may  have 
numbered  two  or  three  hundred  men,  took  out  during  the  first  season 
perhaps  one  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  the  precious  metal. 
But  the  news  of  it  did  not  excite  interest  even  at  St.  Michael's,  only 
a  hundred  miles  away  —  a  fact  explained  by  Mr.  Alfred  H.  Brooks, 
who  was  there  at  the  time,  for  the  two-fold  reason  that  "  the  first 
Alaskan  public  had  become  tired  of  unfounded  rumors  of  rich  dis- 
coveries, and,  second,  the  excavations  on  Ophir  Creek  had  not,  by  any 
means,  gone  far  enough  to  prove  the  great  richness  of  its  gravels." 

It  having  been  reported  that  a  government  reindeer-hunter  had  dis- 
covered coarse  gold  on  the  Sinuk  River,  which  is  one  of  the  largest 
of  the  southern  watersheds  of  the  peninsula,  four  men  started,  out  in 
a  small  boat,  and  were  storm-bound  near  what  is  now  the  town  of  Nome. 
They  found  specimens  of  fine  and  even  coarse  gold  on  the  bar  of  Snake 
River,  and  on  what  was  afterwards  called  Snake  Creek.  This  did  not 
satisfy  them,  and  they  proceeded  to  Sinuk,  there  finding  nothing.  So 
all  of  them  returned  to  Golofnin  Bay.  J.  J.  Brynteson,  one  of  the 
party,  a  native  of  Sweden,  and  an  experienced  coal  and  iron  miner, 
who  had  come  to  Alaska  to  prospect  for  coal,  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  hasty  survey  of  the  Snake  River  district,  and  in  September,  with 
two  other  men,  he  quietly  set  out  for  a  closer  investigation.  His  two 
companions  were  a  fellow  Swede,  Erik  0.  Lindblom,  a  tailor  by  pro- 
fession, who  had  been  lured  to  Kotzebue  Sound  by  fabulous  reports 
of  gold  there;  and  Jafet  Lindeberg,  a  native  of  Norway,  who  had 
come  to  Alaska  to  help  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  in  procuring  reindeer. 
Lindeberg  gives  a  simple  and  graphic  account  of  the  world-famous 
discovery  which  he  and  his  two  companions  made :  — 

"  We  three  men  met  by  chance  at  Council  City,  in  August,  1898," 
he  says  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  F.  L.  Hess  of  the  Government  Survey,  ' '  and 
after  prospecting  around  in  that  district  for  some  time  and  staking 
claims,  formed  a  prospecting  companionship,  and  decided  to  prospect 
over  a  wider  range  of  territory.  Even  at  this  early  date,  the  Council 


THE    MAGIC    WAND    OF    GOLD.  79 

City  District  was  overrun  by  stampeders,  and  staked  to  the  mountain 
tops ;  so  we  proceeded  to  Golofnin  Bay,  and  taking  a  large  open  boat 
and  an  outfit  of  provisions,  on  September  11,  1898,  started  up  the  coast 
toward  Port  Clarence,  stopping  at  the  various  rivers  to  prospect  on 
the  way,  in  which  we  found  signs  of  gold  but  not  in  paying  quantities, 
and  finally  arrived  at  what  is  now  known  as  the  town  of  Nome.  From 
there  we  proceeded  up  Snake  Eiver,  which  we  named,  and  camped  at 
the  mouth  of  Glacier  Creek,  prospecting  as  we  went  along.  The  first 
encouraging  signs  of  gold  we  found  on  the  banks  of  Snake  Eiver  were 
at  about  the  place  where  Lane's  pumping  plant  is  now  located.  After 
locating  our  camp  as  before  mentioned  we  proceeded  to  prospect  along 
the  tributaries  of  Snake  River,  which  tributaries  we  named  as  follows : 
Anvil  Creek  (taking  the  name  from  an  anvil-shaped  rock  which  stands 
on  the  mountain  on  the  east  side  of  the  creek),  Snow  Gulch,  Glacier 
Creek,  Eock  Creek,  and  Dry  Creek,  in  all  of  which  we  found  gold  in 
paying  quantities,  and  proceeded  to  locate  claims,  first  on  Anvil  Creek, 
because  we  found  better  prospects  in  that  creek  than  in  the  others,  and 
where  we  located  the  '  discovery  claim  '  in  the  name  of  us  three  jointly. 
In  addition  to  this,  each  man  staked  a  separate  claim  in  his  own  name 
on  the  creek.  This  was  the  universal  custom  in  Alaska,  as  it  was  con- 
ceded that  the  discoverer  was  entitled  to  a  discovery  claim  and  one 
other.  After  locating  on  Anvil  Creek,  claims  were  staked  on  Snow 
Gulch,  Dry  Creek,  and  Eock  Creek,  after  which  we  returned  to  Golof- 
nin Bay  and  reported  the  discovery. 

"  It  was  then  decided  to  form  a  mining  district,  so  we  three  original 
discoverers  organized  a  party,  taking  with  us  Dr.  A.  N.  Kittleson, 
G.  "W.  Price,  P.  H.  Anderson,  and  a  few  others,  again  proceeded  to 
Nome  in  a  small  schooner  which  we  chartered  at  Golofnin  Bay,  pur- 
chasing as  many  provisions  as  we  could  carry  on  the  boat,  and  on  our 
arrival  the  Cape  Nome  mining  district  was  organized,  and  Dr.  A.  N. 
Kittleson  elected  the  first  recorder.  Eules  were  formulated,  after 
which  the  party  prospected  and  staked  claims,  finally  returning  to 
Golofnin  Bay  for  winter  quarters.  The  news  spread  like  wildfire,  and 


80  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

soon  a  wild  stampede  was  made  to  the  new  diggings  from  Council  City, 
St.  Michael,  and  the  far-off  Yukon. 

' '  At  this  period  very  few  mining  men  were  in  the  country,  the  new- 
comers in  many  instances  being  from  every  trade  known.  The  con- 
sequence of  this  was  soon  well  known;  a  few  men  with  a  smattering 
of  education  gave  their  own  interpretation  to  the  mining  laws,  hence 
jumping  mining  claims  soon  became  an  active  industry.  Especially 
from  Council  City  came  the  jumpers,  who  were  the  original  men  John 
Dexter,  by  an  Eskimo,  had  guided  to  the  first  discovery  of  gold  on 
the  Seward  Peninsula.  They  were  angry  to  think  that  they  had 
not  been  taken  in  at  the  beginning,  so  a  few  of  them  promptly  jumped 
nearly  every  claim  on  Anvil  Creek,  although  there  was  an  abundance 
of  vacant  and  unlocated  ground  left  which  has  since  proved  to  be  more 
valuable  than  the  original  claims  located  by  us  and  our  second  party 
who  helped  us  to  form  the  district.  This  jumping,  or  relocating  of 
claims  by  the  parties  above  named,  poisoned  the  minds  of  all  the  new- 
comers against  every  original  locator  of  mining  claims,  and  as  a  con- 
sequence every  original  claim  was  relocated  by  from  one  to  a  dozen 
different  parties. 

"  At  that  time  L.  B.  Shepard  was  United  States  commissioner  at 
St.  Michael,  and  in  no  case  did  a  jumper  have  a  chance  to  profit  by 
his  villainy,  if  Judge  Shepard  could  prevent  it.  Another  strong  factor 
for  good  government  at  St.  Michael  and  vicinity  was  Capt.  E.  S. 
Walker,  of  the  United  States  Army.  With  exceptionally  good  judg- 
ment and  a  fearless  attitude  he  held  the  lawless  element  in  check,  and 
great  credit  should  be  given  him. 

'  *  In  the  early  months  of  1899  we  hauled  supplies  to  the  creeks,  and 
as  soon  as  the  thaw  came  began  active  mining  on  Snow  Gulch  and  on 
Anvil  Creek.  Soon  a  large  crowd  flocked  to  Nome,  which  was  then 
known  as  Anvil  City.  Among  this  crowd  was  a  large  element  of  law- 
less men  who  soon  joined  forces  with  the  Council  City  jumpers,  and 
every  effort  was  made  by  them  to  create  trouble.  Secret  meetings 
were  held  and  a  plan  formulated  whereby  arrangements  were  made,  to 


THE    MAGIC    WAND    OF    GOLD.  81 

call  a  mass  meeting  of  miners,  and  at  this  meeting  declare  all  the  acts 
of  the  original  miners '  meeting  that  organized  the  district  invalid,  and 
to  throw  open  all  claims  for  relocation.  This  nefarious  scheme  leaked 
out,  and  word  was  sent  to  Captain  Walker  at  St.  Michael,  who  promptly 
dispatched  Lieutenant  Spaulding  with  a  detachment  of  troops  to  Nome. 
A  few  days  after  their  arrival  the  projected  mass  meeting  was  called. 
Here  the  agreed-on  resolutions  were  offered,  which,  if  passed,  would 
have  created  bloody  riot.  Lieutenant  Spaulding  dispersed  the  meeting, 
receiving  the  thanks  of  the  entire  mass  of  law-abiding  citizens  of  Nome 
and  vicinity  for  this  act,  .  .  .  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  military, 
who  proved  themselves  to  be  the  true  men  to  the  American  Govern- 
ment, much  riot  and  bloodshed  would  have  resulted  from  the  conduct 
of  the  aforementioned  parties. ' ' 

The  vanguard  of  prospectors,  arriving  too  late  to  do  any  mining, 
spent  their  energies  in  staking  claims,  using  a  power  of  attorney  for 
such  friends  as  they  could  call  to  mind.  In  this  way,  though  the  mining 
laws  prescribed  the  limits  of  claims,  forty  men  preempted  an  average 
of  nearly  two  hundred  acres  apiece.  Occasionally,  rich  finds  were 
made.  One  nugget  taken  out  from  Anvil  Creek  weighed  one  hundred 
and  eight-two  ounces,  and  brought  three  thousand  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five  dollars. 

The  nearest  post  office  was  one  hundred  miles  away,  across  Norton 
Sound,  and  there  were  no  mails  after  the  winter  season  began.  But 
before  the  ice  broke,  rumor  had  winged  its  way  up  the  Yukon  to  Daw- 
son,  and  when  June  came  there  was  a  population  of  some  four  hundred, 
living  in  tents  and  driftwood  shanties.  Steamers  reaching  Seattle 
during  the  summer  spread  the  news,  and  started  a  fresh  stampede. 
The  thousands  who  reached  Nome  from  the  States,  and  from  the  upper 
reaches  of  the  Yukon,  found  themselves  frozen  out;  or,  so,  at  least, 
they  thought;  for  they  did  not  attempt  to  locate  new  placer  grounds. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

OUTSIDERS   AND    INSIDERS   AT    NOME. 

ME.  ALFRED  H.  BROOKS  describes  the  exciting  period  that 
followed :  —  "  Meanwhile,  in  the  early  summer,  there  was  any- 
thing but  a  contented  community  at  Nome.  The  newcomers 
had  found  the  whole  region  covered  with  location  notices  and  very 
little  mining  being  done.  The  professional  claim  stakers  had  followed 
their  usual  practice  of  blanketing  the  creeks  with  location  notices, 
under  powers  of  attorney,  and  then  holding  many  claims  without  doing 
any  prospecting,  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  take  advantage  of  any 
discoveries  made  by  the  labors  of  others.  In  the  early  part  of  July 
probably  less  than  seven  hundred  men  were  actually  engaged  in  mining, 
while  upward  of  a  thousand  were  idle,  with  neither  prospect  of  em- 
ployment as  miners  nor  opportunity  to  prospect  in  the  district.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  at  that  time  gold  had  been  found  in  only 
a  very  small  area  adjacent  to  Anvil  Creek.  These  idle  men  believed 
that  many  of  the  locations  were  illegal,  as  they  unquestionably  were 
under  a  strict  interpretation  of  the  statutes,  for  as  the  law  requires 
an  actual  discovery  of  gold  on  each  claim  it  is  obvious  that  a  man  who 
staked  twenty  to  thirty  claims  in  a  few  days  could  not  have  determined 
the  presence  of  gold  in  them.  It  was  also  charged  that  many  claims 
had  been  located  by  aliens  and  were  therefore  not  legal  preemptions. 
Under  these  conditions  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  an  era  of  '  claim 
jumping  '  began,  during  which  practically  every  property  of  any  pro- 
spective value  was  restaked.  It  was  then  not  uncommon  to  find  a  claim 
corner  marked  by  half  a  dozen  stakes,  each  of  which  represented  a 
different  claimant. 

82 


OUTSIDERS    AND    INSIDERS    AT    NOME.  83 

"  The  nearest  United  States  commissioner  was  at  St.  Michael,  and 
there  was  therefore  practically  no  means  of  enforcing  civil  law.  In 
fact,  there  were  no  representatives  of  the  Government  at  Nome  except 
an  officer  and  a  small  detachment  of  soldiers  which  had  been  sent  over 
from  the  army  post  at  St.  Michael  in  the  spring.  On  the  commandant 
of  this  handful  of  soldiers  rested  the  responsibility  of  maintaining  law 
and  order  among  a  thousand  discouraged  and  angry  men,  a  task  made 
all  the  more  difficult  because  he  was  without  any  actual  legal  authority. 
He  deserves  credit  for  meeting  the  situation  as  far  as  it  lay  in  his 
power  by  patrolling  property  to  which  there  were  rival  claimants  and 
by  attempting  to  settle  the  constantly  rising  disputes.  Discontent  was 
rife,  and  matters'  went  from  bad  to  worse.  July  10  a  so-called  '  miners ' 
meeting  '  was  called  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  situation,  and 
a  resolution  was  there  presented  setting  forth  the  grievances  of  those 
who  believed  that  the  claim  locations  had  not  been  made  in  accordance 
with  the  United  States  statutes.  "While  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
unlimited  staking  was  undoubtedly  illegal,  yet  this  meeting  was  mainly 
attended  by  those  who,  for  one  reason  or  another,  had  not  succeeded 
in  getting  hold  of  placer  claims.  ... 

11  This  meeting,  though  no  doubt  tending  to  increase  the  dissatis- 
faction, was  entirely  within  the  legal  rights  of  the  individuals  who 
believed  that  they  had  been  wronged.  Therefore  the  peremptory  dis- 
persing of  the  crowd  attendant  at  the  meeting  by  the  commandant  of 
the  troops  was  a  high-handed  proceeding,  entirely  unwarranted  either 
in  law  or  equity.  The  tension  grew  day  by  day,  and  conflicts  between 
rival  claim  owners  became  not  infrequent." 

The  military  authorities  had  been  sent  over  to  Nome  from  St.  Mi- 
chael's,  at  the  request  of  Dr.  A.  N.  Kittleson,  the  recorder  of  the  dis- 
trict, who  reported  that  the  original  "  stakers,"  while  attempting  to 
work  their  claims,  ' '  were  obliged  to  stand  over  them  with  guns  all  the 
time  to  prevent  them  from  being  overrun  by  parties  of  gamblers,  pro- 
fessional jumpers,  and  other  riffraff." 

The  outsiders  demanded  that  the  original  claims,  which  had  been 


84  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

laid  out  thirteen  hundred  and  twenty  by  six  hundred  and  sixty  feet, 
according1  to  the  statute,  should  be  reduced  to  five  hundred  feet  in 
length,  and  they  proposed  to  do  so  by  force.  At  the  miners'  meeting, 
a  resolution  was  introduced  declaring  all  locations  void,  and  it  was 
arranged  that  as  soon  as  it  was  passed,  the  men  who  had  been  stationed 
on  Anvil  Mountain  should  be  notified  by  a  bonfire  at  Nome.  They 
could  then  rush  down  and  restake  the  claims  on  Anvil  Creek.  The 
lieutenant  and  two  of  his  men,  who  were  stationed  on  the  platform, 
ordered  that  the  resolution  should  be  withdrawn  within  two  minutes. 
This  was  done.  But,  nevertheless,  many  of  the  claims  were  jumped, 
and  gave  rise  to  long  litigation.  The  Company  is  said  to  have  spent 
more  than  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  lawyers'  and  court  fees 
to  retain  its  property. 

Mr.  Brooks  continues  the  story:  — "  The  situation  was  suddenly 
relieved  in  an  unexpected  manner.  It  was  accidentally  discovered  that 
the  beach  sands  were  rich  in  gold.  It  appears  that  the  beach  placers 
were  found  almost  simultaneously  by  a  soldier  of  the  barracks  and 
John  Hummel,  an  old  Idaho  prospector  who  was  too  sick  to  leave  the 
coast.  Within  a  few  days  the  mutterings  of  discontent  were  almost 
silenced  because  it  was  found  that  good  wages  could  be  made  with 
rockers  on  the  beach.  All  the  idle  men  went  to  work  as  fast  as  they 
could  obtain  implements.  As  it  gradually  became  known  that  the  beach 
sands  for  several  miles  were  gold  bearing  and  could  be  made  to  yield 
from  $20  to  $100  a  day  to  the  man,  a  veritable  frenzy  seized  the  people 
of  Nome.  A  large  part  of  the  population  went  to  work  with  shovels 
and  rockers.  During  the  height  of  the  excitement  it  is  estimated  that 
there  were  2,000  men  engaged  in  beach  mining.  The  yield  of  the  beach 
placers  is  estimated  at  more  than  $1,000,000,  and  this  was  practically 
all  taken  out  with  hand  rockers  in  less  than  two  months. 

"  There  was  one  legal  complication  relative  to  beach  mining  which 
threatened  to  be  serious,  but  ended  rather  ludicrously.  Previous  to 
the  discovery  of  the  beach  gold  many  so-called  '  tundra  claims  '  had 
been  staked,  which  stretched  inland  from  the  ocean.  A  group  of  these, 


OUTSIDERS    AND    INSIDERS    AT    NOME.  85 

including  the  richest  beach  deposits,  had  been  segregated  and  passed 
into  the  control  of  one  company.  When  beach  mining  began  this  com- 
pany claimed  that  it  owned  the  beach  and  warned  off  all  trespassers 
unless  they  paid  a  royalty  of  50  cents  a  day  for  the  privilege  of  mining 
along  the  water  front.  Most  of  the  miners,  however,  contended  that 
a  60-foot  strip  from  high  water  was  public  property  and  paid  no  heed 
to  the  warning  against  trespassing.  The  company  thereupon  appealed 
to  the  commandant  of  the  troops,  and  he  warned  off  all  beach  miners. 
The  order  was  not  obeyed,  and  he  finally  arrested  about  three  hundred 
men.  At  this  time  the  situation  reached  the  point  of  absurdity.  There 
being  no  civil  magistrate  at  hand  before  whom  these  men  could  be 
tried,  no  building  in  which  they  could  be  confined,  nor  any  funds  from 
which  they  oould  be  supported  while  awaiting  trial,  the  perplexed 
officer  was  forced  to  discharge  all  his  prisoners,  who  promptly  returned 
to  their  rockers  on  the  beach.  Later  decisions  of  the  Land  Office  have 
not  upheld  the  claims  of  this  pompany  to  the  gold  in  the  beach,  for  a 
sixty-foot  strip  of  the  beach  has  remained  open  for  mining  to  all 
comers. ' ' 

The  town  on  the  beach  was  first  called  Anvil  City;  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1899,  it  was  renamed  Nome,  possibly  from  the  Eskimo  word 
"  Kinome,"  signifying  "  I  don't  know;  "  and  its  population  of  more 
than  three  thousand  was  sheltered  in  such  shacks  as  could  be  secured. 
Lumber  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  thousand  made  frame  houses 
luxuries  for  only  the  very  prosperous.  Coal  at  one  hundred  dollars 
a  ton  was  not  in  the  reach  of  all.  The  driftwood  on  the  beach  was 
husbanded  as  if  it  were  gold.  The  tents,  shacks  and  cabins  stretched 
along  a  muddy  street  for  a  mile,  flanked  by  the  treeless  Siberian  tun- 
dra, and  facing  the  wild  surf  of  the  cold,  shallow  sea. 

Corner  lots,  with  titles  as  uncertain  as  the  shifting  sands,  were  sold 
as  high  as  ten  thousand  dollars.  The  population  met  and  elected  a 
Mayor  and  Town  Council,  and  by  common  consent,  this  City  Govern- 
ment, though  without  definite  legal  authority,  made  and  enforced  suit- 
able ordinances.  A  Fire  Department  and  Police  Department  were 


86  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

organized ;  the  Government  established  a  Post  Office ;  and  the  ' '  Nome 
News,"  the  first  newspaper,  began  publication.  Wages  were  paid  as 
high  as  two  dollars  an  hour.  Though  there  were  dozens  of  saloons 
and  gambling-houses,  where  many  a  successful  adventurer  spent  at 
night  all  that  he  had  got  during  the  day,  still  the  condition  of  affairs 
seemed  amply  to  justify  General  Greely's  assertion  "  that  as  a  whole, 
the  inhabitants  of  Alaska  are  the  most  law-abiding  body  of  men  ' '  that 
could  be  found.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  illness  from  the  effects  of 
exposure,  and  especially  from  an  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever  caused  by 
the  use  of  the  surface  water  of  the  tundra. 

The  result  of  the  excitement  aroused  by  the  arrival  at  Seattle  of  some 
three  million  dollars'  worth  of  gold  is  well  described  by  Mr.  Brooks :  — 
"  Professional  promoters  and  stock  jobbers  were  not  backward  in 
taking  advantage  of  this  excitement,  and  there  was  the  usual  crop  of 
flamboyant  prospectuses.  Scores  of  companies  were  incorporated  to 
mine  gold  at  Nome  and  much  stock  was  sold.  Though  not  a  few  of 
these  ventures  were  intended  to  be  legitimate  enterprises,  practically 
all  of  them  were  doomed  to  failure  because  of  the  complete  ignorance 
on  the  part  of  many  of  the  promoters  of  the  character  of  the  deposits, 
suitable  methods  of  mining,  and  general  commercial  conditions. 
Beach-mining  enterprises  were  the  favorite  because  of  the  supposed 
richness  of  the  placers,  and  especially  because  no  capital  was  required 
to  purchase  claims.  The  almost  incredible  record  of  the  first  year's 
beach  mining  appealed  to  the  popular  mind,  and  its  interest  was  main- 
tained through  the  newspapers  and  through  transportation  and  mining 
companies'  circulars,  which  published  the  most  preposterous  state- 
ments. Not  a  few  so-called  mining  experts  asserted  that  the  gold 
in  the  beach  was  inexhaustible  because  the  supply  was  constantly  re- 
newed by  the  waves  from  the  ocean  bottom.  It  was  easy  to  main- 
tain that,  if  a  man  with  a  rocker  could  make  $20  a  day  on  the  beach, 
a  plant  which  could  handle  twenty  times  as  much  material  would  yield 
untold  wealth.  There  was  a  flood  of  gold-saving  devices,  varying  from 
a  patent  gold  pan  hung  on  a  pivot  and  turned  by  a  crank  to  complex 


OUTSIDERS    AND    INSIDERS    AT    NOME.  87 

aggregates  of  wheels,  pumps,  sieves,  and  belts,  which  required  a  100- 
horsepower  engine  for  their  operation. 

n  i  ijijie  g0i(jeil  sands  of  Nome  '  was  the  slogan  which  inspired  thou- 
sands to  engage  passage  for  the  El  Dorado  months  in  advance  of  the 
sailings.  Beaching  Nome  was  far  easier  than  going  to  the  Klondike, 
for  the  gold  seeker  could  be  landed  at  his  destination  from  an  ocean 
steamer.  Here  there  was  no  winnowing  of  the  persevering  and  enter- 
prising from  the  shiftless  and  indolent  as  at  the  Chilkoot  Pass  (the 
gateway  of  the  Klondike).  In  consequence,  the  crowd  of  men  that 
reached  Nome  were  less  well  fitted  for  frontier  life  than  those  who 
went  to  Dawson. 

1 '  In  1900  the  ice  on  Bering  Sea  broke  early,  and  some  small  vessels 
skirting  the  shoreward  side  of  the  ice  floes  dropped  anchor  at  Nome 
the  latter  part  of  May,  but  the  large  steamers  did  not  arrive  until  the 
middle  of  June.  By  July  1  upward  of  50  vessels  had  discharged  pas- 
sengers and  freight  on  the  beach.  It  is  estimated  that  the  first  and 
second  sailings  brought  over  20,000  people  to  the  peninsula.  There 
was  then  a  solid  row  of  tents  stretching  along  five  miles  of  the  beach, 
and  the  water  front  was  piled  high  with  freight  of  all  kinds.  The 
newcomers  found  little  to  encourage  them.  Those  that  had  wintered 
in  the  peninsula  had  industriously  extended  their  stakes  so  that  a  man 
could  travel  for  days  and  hardly  be  out  of  sight  of  a  location  notice. 
To  add  to  the  discouragement  and  confusion,  smallpox  was  introduced 
from  one  of  the  vessels,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  prompt  action  of 
Capt.  D.  H.  Jarvis,  of  the  Kevenue-Cutter  Service,  it  would  have  be- 
come a  serious  epidemic.  The  inexperienced  men  who  landed  at  Nome, 
not  finding  the  El  Dorado  their  fancies  had  painted,  were  loud  in  their 
denunciation  of  the  region.  Many  in  the  course  of  a  few  days'  tramp- 
ing of  the  beach  became  self-styled  experts  on  placer  mining  and  stren- 
uously announced  that  the  auriferous  gravels  of  the  peninsula  had 
practically  been  exhausted. 

"  During  the  month  of  July  every  conceivable  kind  of  gold-saving 
appliance  was  installed  on  the  shore,  but  few  except  those  of  simplest 


88  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

design  paid  even  running  expenses.  Nevertheless  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion that  a  strong  company  controlling  a  considerable  strip  of  the 
beach  could  by  the  use  of  steam  shovels  have  profitably  extracted 
what  gold  had  been  left  in  the  sands.  But  under  the  conditions 
of  public  ownership  of  the  beach,  if  values  were  found  in  any  given 
locality,  men  swarmed  in  with  rockers  and  quickly  worked  it  out. 
This  made  it  impossible  to  extract  the  beach  gold  at  a  profit  by 
other  than  light  equipments  readily  movable  from  one  rich  spot  to 
another. 

"  Probably  the  most  ill-conceived  enterprises  were  those  planned  to 
dredge  gold  under  the  sea.  Though  the  upper  layer  of  these  sands  is 
more  or  less  auriferous,  the  difficulties  of  excavation  are  such  as  to. 
make  it  improbable  that  it  can  be  profitably  mined.  The  severe  storms 
and  lack  of  shelter  prevent  the  use  of  dredges,  except  possibly  during 
one  month  in  the  year.  Many  of  these  dredging  schemes  were  based 
on  a  theory  (held  by  some  who  were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  origin 
of  the  beach  gold  and  who  refused  to  be  instructed)  that  the  auriferous 
sands  are  swept  in  from  the  sea.  ...  On  August  9  a  severe  south- 
westerly storm  practically  demolished  the  more  elaborate  appliances 
for  gold  saving  and  strewed  the  beach  for  miles  with  debris.  This 
ended  beach  mining  for  that  year  except  where  the  simplest  apparatus 
was  in  use. ' ' 

The  enormous  amount  of  litigation,  caused  by  jumping  of  claims 
and  the  actions  of  so-called  "  pencil  and  hatchet  men,"  who  located 
claims,  not  for  legitimate  mining  but  for  speculative  purposes,  finally 
induced  the  Government  to  form  a  new  judicial  district,  and  appoint 
a  Federal  Judge.  This  court,  however,  proved  to  be  corrupt;  among 
its  questionable  acts  was  the  placing  of  receivers  over  valuable  prop- 
erty, "  from  which  they  extracted  gold,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  they 
were  without  bond,  and  that  the  rightful  owners  had  no  check  on  the 
amount  of  gold  being  taken  out. ' ' 

This  distrust  of  the  judiciary,  so  well-founded,  kept  capital  from 
investing  in  large  enterprises,  and  the  influx  of  thousands  of  inexperi- 


OUTSIDERS    AND    INSIDERS    AT    NOME.  89 

enced  men  naturally  led  to   tremendous   suffering   and   disappoint- 
ment. 

Time,  however,  generally  corrects  abuses,  and  weeds  out  the  incom- 
petent. The  careful  survey  of  the  peninsula,  the  settlement  of  litiga- 
tion, the  introduction  of  improved  machinery  and  of  sluicing  ditches 
—  estimated  at  an  aggregate  of  three  hundred  miles  in  extent  —  in 
1909,  gave  rise  to  the  prediction  of  experts  that  the  gold  production 
in  that  region  will  increase  rather  than  diminish.  Its  possibilities  are 
roughly  estimated  at  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  million  dollars 
from  the  placer  mines  only,  with  no  apparent  limit  to  the  exploitation 
of  the  mountains  from  which  the  gold  has  disintegrated. 

Nome  grew,  like  a  mushroom,  into  a  city  of  twenty  thousand  inhab- 
itants, and  at  first  there  was  a  good  deal  of  lawlessness,  so  that  life 
and  property  were  unsafe;  but,  as  the  undesirables  were  gradually 
weeded  out,  the  town  settled  down  into  its  summer  and  winter  per- 
manence. 

Perhaps  the  most  succinct  summary  of  the  recent  history  of  Alaska 
may  be  found  in  an  article  by  the  Honorable  Walter  E.  Clarke,  the 
governor  of  the  territory.  He  says :  — 

'  *  Ten  years  ago,  Alaska  was  *  discovered  '  by  a  good  many  persons. 
Nine  years  ago,  nearly  twenty  thousand  of  them  started  on  that  elec- 
trifying stampede  to  Nome.  The  site  of  the  present  town  was  a  deso- 
late tract  of  tundra  when  Lindeberg,  Lindblom,  and  Brynteson  discov- 
ered gold  in  a  creek,  four  miles  away,  at  the  base  of  Anvil  Mountain. 
In  1899,  a  good  many  miners  stampeded  from  other  parts  of  Alaska 
and  from  the  Yukon  Territory  (Klondike),  but  the  following  year  came 
the  Bush  of  the  Twenty  Thousand.  Some  of  the  adventurous  army 
half  encircled  the  globe  to  reach  the  magic  gold  camp  on  Bering  Sea. 
A  good  deal  has  happened  since  then.  The  riches  of  the  Tanana  Valley 
were  not  known  until  several  years  later,  and  Fairbanks,  now  perhaps 
the  largest  town  in  Alaska,  is  only  half  as  old  as  Nome.  Copper  and 
coal  have  been  uncovered  in  the  southern  part  of  the  territory,  and 
railroads  are  building.  An  ocean  cable  has  been  laid  from  Seattle, 


90  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

and  land-telegraph  lines  all  over  the  territory  are  supplemented  by 
a  system  of  wireless  telegraphy.  Wagon  roads  and  trails  are  being 
built  by  a  commission  of  officers  of  the  United  States  Army.  More 
than  twenty  new  lighthouses  have  been  erected.  Commerce  has 
grown. ' ' 

Governor  Clarke  well  adds  that  a  commerce  of  fifty  million  dollars 
a  year  deserves  adequate  protection  against  the  perils  of  the  coast 
line;  and  the  tremendous  deposits  of  copper  and  coal,  which  will  un- 
doubtedly supply  the  western  coast  for  decades  to  come,  will  justify 
the  expense  of  building  railways  into  those  Arctic  wastes. 

People  fairly  well  informed,  who  would  not  think  of  asking  the 
prospective  visitor  if  he  would  go  into  the  country  over  the  ice,  or 
would  travel  entirely  with  dog-teams,  or  suggest  that  Juneau  was  near 
Nome,  or  even  take  it  for  granted  that  the  Klondike  is  in  Alaska,  have 
really  little  conception  of  the  immensity  of  that  territory,  or  of  its 
chief  characteristics. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE   VASTNESS   OF   ALASKA. 

ITS  area,  as  far  as  recent  surveys  may  be  trusted,  is  not  far  from 
five  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  square  miles,  equivalent  to  all 
of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Eockies,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Gulf  States ;  or  even  to  the  combined  area  of  the  thirteen  original 
States,  including  what  is  now  Maine,  besides  Vermont,  Kentucky,  Ten- 
nessee, West  Virginia,  Ohio,  and  almost  half  of  Washington ;  or,  again, 
to  more  than  twice  all  Germany.  Sitka  and  the  Pribilof  Islands  lie 
on  nearly  the  same  degree  of  latitude,  and  the  southernmost  limit  of 
Alaska  corresponds  with  Hamburg.  Nome  is  twelve  hundred  miles 
northwest  of  Juneau,  and  two  thousand  and  seven  miles  northwest 
of  Seattle.  From  the  Tongass  National  Forest,  at  the  farthest  east, 
the  stretch  is  about  sixty  degrees  of  longitude  —  not  far  from  twenty- 
five  hundred  miles;  so  that,  in  a  certain  sense,  it  is  true  that  Attu 
Island,  the  last  of  the  Aleutians,  is  farther  west  of  San  Francisco  than 
San  Francisco  is  west  of  Eastport.  Its  coast  line  amounts  to  not  less 
than  eleven  thousand  miles. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Georgeson,  special  agent  in  charge  of  Alaska  Investiga- 
tions, estimates  that  there  are  in  the  territory  about  one  hundred  thou- 
sand square  miles,  or  one-sixth  of  the  whole  region,  suitable  for 
agriculture  and  pasturage.  "  As  a  matter  of  fact,"  he  says,  "  the 
area  is  probably  very  much  larger  since  a  considerable  part  of  the 
mountain  territory  will  afford  pasture."  This  is  a  little  more  than 
the  area  of  the  combined  States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  Mr. 
Georgeson  believes  that  Alaska  can  support  a  population  of  thirty 
persons  to  the  square  mile,  and  he  instances  Finland,  which,  geograph- 
ically, is  not  unlike  Alaska,  and  in  fifty  thousand  square  miles  supports 

91 


92  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

a  population  of  three  millions.  He  says :  —  "  We  have  reasons  for 
believing  that  Alaska  may  equal  Finland  in  agricultural  production. 
Temperature  is  the  chief  controlling  factor  in  the  production  of  agri- 
cultural crops,  and  the  temperatures,  both  in  the  coast  region  and  in 
the  interior  of  Alaska  during  the  growing  season,  compare  favorably 
with  the  recorded  temperatures  of  Finland.  .  .  .  Finland  is  a  noted 
dairy  country.  The  agricultural  exports  consist  chiefly  of  butter, 
cheese,  and  beef  from  slaughtered  dairy  animals.  In  Alaska  cattle 
feed  can  be  grown  in  any  quantity,  and  it  can,  therefore,  also  become 
a  great  dairy  country." 

Although  Congress  has  enlarged  the  homestead  in  Alaska  to  three 
hundred  and  twenty  acres,  lack  of  transportation  facilities,  or  the 
excessive  cost  of  transportation,  restricts  the  number  of  people  who 
would  otherwise  flock  to  the  country. 

The  tourist  who  takes  the  usual  summer  trip  to  Alaska  sees  only 
the  coast  fringe  of  one  district  —  the  Sitkan  or  southeastern,  which 
contains,  according  as  it  is  reckoned,  not  more  than  a  twelfth,  or  a 
twentieth,  of  the  whole  territory.  There  are  five  other  divisions.  Al- 
though, of  course,  it  is  impossible  within  the  limits  of  a  small  volume 
to  cover  them  all  with  much  detail,  we  will  visit  them  all  in  imagination, 
and  try  to  picture  to  ourselves,  in  some  adequate  way,  the  wonderful 
region  which  the  energy  of  man  is  beginning  to  tame  to  civilization. 

All  tourists  agree  as  to  the  perfect  charm  of  the  steamship  route 
to  Sitka.  Leaving  either  Tacoma  or  Seattle,  and  traversing  the  Strait 
of  Juan  de  Fuca,  skirting  the  mountainous  island  of  Vancouver  —  key 
of  the  Pacific  —  for  two  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  through  the  often 
dangerous  Discovery  Passage,  or  Valdez  Narrows,  where  so  many  ship- 
wrecks have  occurred,  owing  to  the  tremendous  tidal  current  which 
runs  through  it,  back  and  forth,  at  the  rate  of  fourteen  knots  an  hour ; 
thence  for  forty  miles  across  Queen  Charlotte  Sound,  exposed  to  the 
sweep  of  the  Pacific  swells,  and  made  misty  by  the  Kuro  Siwo;  at 
length,  after  the  long  sweep  of  Hecate  Strait,  one  reaches  the  boundary 
of  Alaska,  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Alexander  Archipelago. 


THE    VASTNESS    OF    ALASKA.  93 

All  the  way  there  have  been  enchanting  views  of  deep  and  pictur- 
esque fjords,  of  snow-clad  mountains,  and  magnificent  glaciers.  Hun- 
dreds of  islands  have  loomed  up,  as  if  to  cut  off  further  progress,  but 
have,  as  it  were,  stepped  aside,  leaving  narrow  passages,  where  the 
greatest  steamships  could  tie  up  to  precipitous  banks.  The  multitudi- 
nous islands,  which  form  a  fringe  between  the  mainland  and  the  open 
Pacific,  nearly  all  the  way  from  Puget  Sound  to  Skaguay,  Alaska  — 
indeed  one  might  say  also  from  Prince  William  Sound  to  the  very  end 
of  the  Aleutian  Islands  —  are  evidently  the  peaks  and  summits  of 
mountain  ranges  which  have  been  sunk  beneath  the  sea.  The  extreme 
depths  of  the  water-ways  correspond  to  the  valleys  in  the  inner  moun- 
tains that  run  parallel  to  the  coast;  and  the  canals,  arms,  inlets,  bays 
and  fjords,  that  give  such  marvellous  diversity  to  the  coast,  correspond 
to  the  passes  and  canons  on  land. 

Alaska  is  separated  from  British  Columbia  by  Portland  Canal,  a 
deep  fjord  running  for  about  a  hundred  miles,  part  of  the  way  diag- 
onally through  the  Coast  Eange,  thus  furnishing  a  comparatively  easy 
pass  into  the  Yukon  basin.  The  steamships  all  stop  at  Ketchikan,  which 
is  the  distributing-point  for  the  great  mining  district  of  that  region. 
For  many  years,  salmon-fisheries  and  canning  were  the  principal  inter- 
est of  the  Ketchikan  district.  Salmon-fishers  were  among  the  first  to 
discover  the  mineral  wealth  of  that  region.  In  1892,  James  Bowden 
discovered  gold  in  paying  quantities  on  Annette  Island.  After  the 
disappointing  outcome  of  the  Cassiar  gold-quest,  some  of  the  argo- 
nauts returned  to  Ketchikan,  and  exploited  the  claims  in  that  vicinity. 
The  town,  in  1902,  had  a  population  of  about  seven  hundred.  It  is 
provided  with  excellent  hotels  and  shops.  Launches  and  sloops  abound, 
and  the  tourist  might  spend  many  days'  in  cruising  among  the  fasci- 
nating islands  of  the  archipelago. 

He  will  surely  wish  to  go  to  New  Metlakatla,  the  home  of  the  colony 
of  Timpsean  Indians,  who,  under  the  ministrations  of  "William  Dun- 
can, have  attained  a  high  degree  of  civilization.  William  Duncan  came 
to  Fort  Simpson  in  1857,  as  a  lay  worker  for  the  Church  Mission  So- 


94  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

ciety.  The  Indians  in  that  vicinity,  amounting  to  perhaps  ten  or  fif- 
teen thousand  men,  were  fierce  savages.  It  was  even  charged  that  they 
were  addicted  to  cannibalism,  that  they  frequently  ate  the  dead  bodies 
of  their  relatives,  even  those  who  had  died  of  disgusting  diseases.  But 
Sir  George  Simpson,  who  tells  these  terrible  stories  of  them,  also 
acknowledges  that  they  were  peculiarly  comely,  strong,  and  well-grown, 
and  were  ingenious  in  carving  stone,  wood  and  ivory. 

Duncan  settled  among  them,  learned  their  language,  inspired  them 
with  perfect  confidence,  and  gradually  induced  them  to  adopt  his  ways 
of  life.  He  established  a  community  settlement  about  twenty  miles 
south  of  Fort  Simpson;  and,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Indians,  cleared 
a  tract  of  land;  built  two-story  cottages,  a  church,  a  school-house  — 
octagon  shaped,  suitable  for  town  meetings  —  a  co-operative  store, 
soap  factory,  blacksmith  shop,  saw-mill,  and  a  salmon-cannery.  He 
engaged  assistants,  and  taught  the  young  Indians  carpentry,  shoe- 
making,  tanning,  blanket-weaving,  rope-making,  and  boat-building.  A 
German  music-master  instructed  them  in  singing  and  the  practice  of 
various  instruments,  and  formed  a  band.  A  few  years  later,  the  Eng- 
lish Church  sent  out  a  Bishop  to  superintend  the  missions.  This  Bishop 
Eidley  entirely  misunderstood  the  Indian  character;  he  was  narrow- 
minded  and  bigoted.  Mr.  Duncan  realized  that  the  Communion  service, 
where  the  communicants  are  taught  that  they  are  eating  the  Body  and 
drinking  the  Blood  of  God,  was  a  dangerous  ceremony  for  a  people 
just  emerged  from  cannibalism,  and  protested  against  it,  but  the  Bishop 
was  obstinate  and  opinionated.  The  friction  between  him  and  the  lay- 
missionary  grew  more  and  more  galling,  and  finally,  in  1887,  Mr.  Dun- 
can went  to  "Washington  and  obtained  permission  to  transfer  his  people 
to  Annette  Island.  His  mission  proved  successful,  and  the  island  was, 
in  1891,  set  apart  as  a  reservation  for  the  Metlakatlans.  Seven  hundred 
of  the  Indians,  taking  with  them  only  their  personal  belongings,  and 
leaving  their  houses  and  all  their  other  property,  emigrated  to  this 
new  wilderness,  and  there  the  old  experiment  was  continued  under 
somewhat  new  conditions. 


iV?; 


/ 


LOOKING    UP   WHITE    PASS   SUMMIT. 


THE  VASTNESS  OF  ALASKA.  97 

There  they  built  a  new  saw-mill,  a  wharf,  a  well-appointed  co-opera- 
tive store,  town-hall,  a  large  church  —  attractive  architecturally  and 
steam-heated  —  and  comfortable  quarters  for  the  tribe  and  their  be- 
loved missionary.  Schools  for  the  boys  and  girls  are  well  attended. 
There  is  an  excellent  system  of  water-works,  and  a  large  cannery,  the 
salmon  for  which  is  provided  by  the  inhabitants.  The  community,  or, 
one  might  call  it,  the  Commune,  own  all  these  adjuncts  to  civilization, 
as  well  as  several  vessels.  Natives,  by  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
are  forbidden  to  do  any  mining.  If  this  unreasonable  law  was  abro- 
gated, at  least  under  certain  conditions,  undoubtedly  Father  Dun- 
can's Indians  would  exploit  the  mines  that  have  been  discovered  on 
his  island.  The  natives  themselves,  in  a  big  council  meeting  held  in 
1895,  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  a  community  title,  the  town  coun- 
cil to  grant  allotments  of  land,  for  legitimate  purposes,  to  individuals ; 
but  they  did  not  favor  a  Government  grant  of  individual  titles  to  lots 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  each,  as  that  was  supposed  to  be  preju- 
dicial to  the  community  interests.  They  also  very  sensibly  demanded 
that  all  salmon  streams  should  be  declared  Indian  reservations,  so  that 
only  proper  persons,  under  proper  conditions,  should  be  allowed  to 
operate  them;  the  amount  of  salmon  taken  from  each  stream  being 
limited,  and  all  barricades  forbidden  by  law. 

The  New  Metlakatla  community  is  governed  by  a  council  of  thrifty 
members,  under  the  direction  of  a  president.  There  is  a  police 
force  of  twenty  men.  The  system  of  taxes  is  adapted  to  maintain 
all  the  public  institutions;  the  cannery  and  saw-mill  belong  to  stock- 
companies  controlled  by  the  Indians.  There  are  fine,  wide  sidewalks ; 
and  a  band  of  twenty  instruments  plays  on  days  when  the  steamer 
arrives. 

All  the  members  of  the  community  are  required  to  sign  a  declara- 
tion, in  accordance  with  which  they  agree  to  reverence  the  Sabbath, 
to  attend  Divine  worship,  to  take  the  Bible  as  their  rule  of  faith,  to 
regard  all  Christians  as  their  brethren,  to  be  truthful,  honest  and  in- 
dustrious, to  be  faithful  and  loyal  to  the  Government  and  laws  of  the 


98  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

United  States,  to  vote  when  required,  to  obey  the  regulations  of  their 
Council,  to  educate  their  children,  to  abstain  from  all  intoxicants  and 
gambling,  to  refrain  from  heathen  festivities,  to  carry  out  all  necessary 
sanitary  regulations,  to  identify  themselves  with  the  interests  of  the 
commune,  and  never  to  give  away  or  dispose  of  their  land  to  any  per- 
sons who  have  not  subscribed  to  the  rules. 

Mr.  Duncan's  experiment,  in  a  communistic  commonwealth  for  the 
natives,  is  justly  regarded  as  an  object  lesson  in  the  treatment  of  the 
Indians.  In  almost  all  other  places,  the  story  of  the  dealings  of  the 
whites  with  the  aborigines  is  stained  with  horror.  Mr.  Henry  S.  Well- 
come, in  his  * '  Story  of  Metlakatla, ' '  says :  — 

' '  This  people,  only  thirty  years  since,  consisted  of  the  most  ferocious 
Indian  tribes,  given  up  to  constant  warfare,  notorious  for  treachery, 
cannibalism,  and  other  hideous  practices.  Mr.  William  Duncan,  with 
rare  fortitude  and  genius,  began  single-handed  a  mission.  He  educated 
them  and  taught  them  Christianity  in  the  simplest  manner;  at  the 
same  time  introducing  peaceful  industries;  and  by  these  means  he 
wrought,  in  a  single  generation,  a  marvellous  transformation.  Where 
blood  had  flowed  continually,  he  founded  the  self-supporting  village 
of  Metlakatla,  that  will  compare  favorably  with  almost  any  village 
of  its  size  in  England  or  America  for  intelligence,  morality  and 
thrift." 

The  boundary  between  the  Dominion  and  Alaska  crosses  the  upper 
end  of  Dixon  Entrance,  so  named  after  Vancouver's  Captain  Dixon, 
but  also  called  Granitza  Sound  and  Kygan  Strait.  It  was  originally 
named  Perez  Inlet,  in  1775,  by  the  discoverer,  Bodegay  Quadra.  How 
unfortunate  that  the  Indian  names  should  not  have  been  more  fre- 
quently retained,  instead  of  attaching  to  noble  mountains  and  lordly 
waters  the  often  ugly  names  of  insignificant  sailors!  Then  would 
Eainer  have  been  Tacoma  or  Takoba,  meaning  Snowy  Mountain ;  and 
Seymour  Narrows  would  have  borne  the  name  of  the  Yakulta,  the 
Lorelei  of  that  wild  pass ;  and  many  a  beautiful  island  and  river  would 
have  commemorated  the  vanishing  peoples  of  those  shores. 


THE  VASTNESS  OF  ALASKA.  99 

The  controversy  regarding  the  boundary,  at  some  stages,  grew  acute. 
Fortunate  it  was  that  good  councils  prevailed,  however ;  and  the  coun- 
cils interested  in  the  boundary  question  accepted  the  mediation  of  the 
German  Emperor  in  determining  the  limitation  of  their  respective 
possessions. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE    NORTHWARD   PASSAGE. 

THE  steamboat,  as  it  makes  its  way  toward  the  north,  pushes 
through  a  perfect  labyrinth  of  islands.  One  of  the  largest  and 
most  interesting  is  called  Revillagigedo,  after  the  viceroy  of 
Espana  Nueva.  The  natives  called  it  "  Naa  "  or  "  Na-ha,"  meaning 
"  the  distant  (or  fair?)  lakes."  It  has  been  partially  explored  and 
geologically  plotted,  although  it  covers  an  area  of  more  than  a  thousand 
square  miles,  approximating  the  size  of  Rhode  Island.  It  is  through- 
out mountainous,  and  remarkable  for  its  beautiful  scenery.  The  so- 
called  Behm  Canal  almost  encircles  it,  separating  it  from  the  mainland. 
It  is  cleft  in  two  by  Carroll  Inlet,  and  its  streams  are  famous  for 
their  profusion  of  salmon.  In  days  not  so  remote,  it  was  true  that 
there  was  no  room  for  the  water,  so  thick  were  the  fish,  struggling  to 
reach  their  spawning  grounds !  These  are  reached  by  a  narrow  stream, 
connecting  with  a  chain  of  beautiful  fresh  water  ponds  or  lakes.  One 
of  them  is  called  Lake  Adorable:  it  is  four  miles  long  and  two  miles 
wide,  surrounded  by  magnificent  forests.  Tourists  never  tire  of  watch- 
ing the  salmon  hurrying  across  it  to  reach  the  stream  that  connects 
it  with  the  lakes  beyond.  Sometimes  several  bears,  two  varieties  of 
which  are  found  on  the  island,  have  been  seen  on  the  edge  of  the  lake 
engaged  in  catching  salmon.  Formerly,  there  was  a  multitude  of  small 
red  deer  in  the  uplands,  but  the  huntsmen,  who,  in  a  single  year,  de- 
stroyed twenty-five  thousand  for  their  hides,  have  almost  exterminated 
them.  The  lakes  also  are  breeding  grounds  for  countless  flocks  of 
ducks  and  other  wild  feathered  game. 

Threading  Tongass  Narrows  and  Clover  Pass  —  named  after  Rear- 

Admiral  Clover  of  the  United  States  Navy  —  one  reaches  the  canning- 

100 


THE    NORTHWARD    PASSAGE.  !•:"*{';.:  ,'•  JQI ;  • 

town  of  Loring,  where  this  great  industry  may  be  seen  in  its  perfection. 
The  five  principal  varieties  of  Pacific  salmon  seem  to  follow  a  regular 
sequence  in  their  run.  First,  in  the  early  spring,  come  the  tyee,  the 
quinnat  (Chinook)  or  king  salmon,  often  attaining  a  weight  of  a  hun- 
dred pounds.  Stories  are  told  of  their  growing  to  such  a  size  that  a 
cask  will  hold  but  four!  Although  abundant  in  the  Alaskan  rivers, 
they  travel  in  pairs  and  not  in  schools.  The  flesh  of  this  variety  is 
pale  and  excellent.  In  June,  appear  the  red  salmon,  or  sockeye;  av- 
eraging from  six  to  ten  pounds,  tough  and  requiring  long  cooking ;  and 
actually  blackening  the  waters  in  their  abundance.  They  swim  up  the 
Yukon  for  eighteen  hundred  miles.  Seven  thousand  have  been  taken 
in  a  single  cast  of  the  net.  Then  come  the  "  kisutch  "  or  silver  salmon 
—  most  agile  of  fish  —  leaping  high  falls,  and  turning  the  rapids  into 
cascades  of  life.  The  "  gorbusha  "  or  hump-back  salmon,  which  Van- 
couver called  hunch-back,  and  found  unpalatable,  appear  in  August. 
Besides  these,  there  is  the  silvery  dog-salmon  (or  calico),  unsuitable 
for  canning,  but  good  fresh  or  salted.  These  fish  are  trailed  by  the 
malma,  or  Dolly  Varden,  and  other  varieties  of  trout  eager  for  salmon- 
eggs. 

Mrs.  Eliza  Euhamah  Scidmore  gives  a  vivid  description  of  the  proc- 
ess of  canning  the  fish.  She  says :  —  * '  The  seining  and  outdoor  work 
are  done  by  white  men,  a  few  Indians  being  sometimes  employed  under 
them.  "While  industrious  to  a  degree,  the  Thlinkit  can  not  be  depended 
upon;  and  the  native  is  too  apt  to  strike,  to  start  upon  a  prolonged 
potlatch,  or  go  berrying  or  fishing  on  his  own  account,  in  the  height 
of  the  salmon  run.  In  the  skilful  manipulation  of  the  cans  and  ma- 
chines within  doors,  neither  he  nor  the  white  man  can  approach  the 
automatic  exactness  and  dexterity  of  the  Chinese,  who,  being  paid  by 
the  piece,  take  no  account  of  a  day's  working  hours,  and  keep  the 
machinery  going  as  long  as  there  are  fish  in  the  cannery. 

"  The  fish  are  thrown  from  the  arriving  scows  to  a  latticed  floor, 
or  loaded  directly  into  the  trucks  and  rolled  into  the  cannery.  The 
cleaner  seizes  a  fish,  and  in  two  seconds  trims  and  cleans  it  —  behead- 


102  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

ing,  detailing,  and  rending  it  with  so  many  strokes  of  his  long  thin 
knife.  It  is  washed,  scraped,  cut  in  sections  the  length  of  a  can,  packed, 
soldered,  steamed,  tested,  vented,  steamed  again,  resoldered,  lacquered, 
labelled,  and  boxed.  The  tin  is  taken  up  in  sheets,  and  an  ingenious 
machine  punch  rolls  and  fits  the  covers  to  the  cans.  These  roll  down 
an  inclined  gutter  of  melted  solder,  which  closes  the  edges.  The  experts 
can  tell,  by  a  tap  of  the  finger,  if  each  can  is  air-tight.  If  not  her- 
metically closed,  the  contents  rapidly  change,  burst  the  cans  in  transit 
'  below,'  or  explode  unpleasantly  in  distant  markets." 

Recently,  a  wonderful  machine  has  been  devised,  which  trims  the 
fish  far  more  quickly  and  economically  than  can  be  done  by  human 
hands. 

In  spite  of  the  endeavors  of  the  United  States  Fish-Commission, 
wasteful  and  ultimately  ruinous  methods  of  catching  the  salmon  have 
not  been  suppressed.  The  products  have  steadily  increased,  until  from 
an  output  of  a  little  more  than  forty  thousand  dollars  in  1878,  it  aggre- 
gated, in  1908,  about  ten  millions  —  nearly  one  hundred  and  thirty 
million  pounds  —  employing  more  than  thirteen  thousand  persons. 
The  Federal  law  of  1906  "  levies  license  taxes  on  business  and  output; 
makes  suitable  exemptions  for  salmon-fry  liberated;  forbids  obstruc- 
tions against  ascent  of  fish  to  spawning  grounds ;  limits  seine  and  other 
similar  appliances ;  fixes  methods  and  times  of  fishing  in  United  States 
waters;  authorizes  preserves  for  spawning  grounds;  forbids  canning 
or  salting  of  fish  more  than  two  days  dead;  makes  unlawful  the 
wanton  destruction  of  fish;  proscribes  misbranding;  requires  sworn 
annual  reports  from  corporations;  and  authorizes  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce  and  Labor  to  formulate  regulations  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  act." 

When  the  enormous  waste  of  the  offal  from  the  canneries  —  amount- 
ing to  thirty-five  million  pounds  in  a  single  season,  and  equivalent  to 
seven  million  pounds  of  excellent  fertilizer  and  three  or  four  hundred 
thousand  gallons  of  oil  —  is  saved,  the  profits  of  the  canneries  will  be 
still  greater. 


THE    NORTHWARD    PASSAGE.  103 

The  deep,  narrow  channel  which  runs  nearly  around  Eevillagigedo 
Island  was  called  Behm  Canal  after  Major  Behm,  who  commanded  the 
Russian  port  in  Kamchatka  at  the  time  when  Cook's  ships  wintered 
there.  Vancouver  was  a  midshipman  on  this  voyage. 

Occasionally  a  steamship  makes  the  circuit  of  the  island,  the  shores 
of  which  are  extremely  steep,  the  mountains  in  the  interior  rising  to 
a  height  of  several  thousand  feet.  The  view  northward  from  Point 
Sykes  at  the  entrance  of  the  canal  has  been  pronounced  to  be  the  finest 
in  Southern  Alaska.  One  of  the  features  is  the  so-called  New  Eddy- 
stone  Eock,  which  rises  like  a  tower  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from 
the  water  with  a  circumference  of  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

There  is  an  interesting  engraving  of  it  in  the  third  volume  of  Van- 
couver's narration. 

Opposite  Eevillagigedo  lies  the  great  Prince  of  Wales  Island  which 
is  more  than  two  hundred  miles  long  and  as  large  as  the  State  of  Dela- 
ware. It  is  very  mountainous,  the  peaks  rising  to  a  height  of  three 
thousand  feet,  and  its  surface  is  broken  by  numerous  bays  and  indenta- 
tions, while  channels  and  bays  separate  it  from  a  host  of  larger  and 
smaller  islands  toward  the  west.  The  mild  climate,  the  thermometer 
rarely  reaching  zero,  and  the  moist  atmosphere  have  been  favorable 
to  vegetation  and  the  splendid  Alaska  cedar  here  attains  its  highest 
perfection.  Some  of  the  large  trees  measure  eight  feet  in  diameter 
and  attain  a  height  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  The  Chinese  used 
to  buy  this  wood  of  the  Eussians  and  after  making  it  into  boxes  and 
chests  or  ornamental  carvings  palm  it  off  as  camphor  or  sandal-wood. 
It  is  pleasant  to  note  that  during  the  administration  of  President 
Eoosevelt  the  so-called  Tongass  Forest  Eeservation,  an  area  of  more 
than  one  thousand  square  miles,  including  the  cedar  groves  of  the 
great  islands,  was  brought  under  national  control.  No  timber  may  be 
exported  from  Alaska ;  and  in  spite  of  the  apparently  enormous  supply 
which  the  tourist  sees,  covering  the  mountains  often  to  a  height  of  five 
thousand  feet,  the  forests  are  largely  confined  to  a  narrow  belt  along 
the  coast,  and  the  larger  part  of  the  timber  used  in  Alaska  is  imported. 


104  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

Copper  and  gold  have  been  found  in  the  Alexander  Archipelago  and 
hundreds  of  claims  have  been  entered.  Some  of  them  have  been  suc- 
cessfully worked. 

The  largest  native  village  on  the  island  was  long  famous  for  its 
display  of  totem-poles,  guarding  houses  and  the  ruins  of  houses. 

The  Indians  are  of  the  Haidah  or  Hyda  tribe  who  migrated  from 
the  Queen  Charlotte  group  farther  south.  They  were  a  warlike  and 
treacherous  people,  and  often  made  predatory  incursions  even  as  far 
south  as  Puget  Sound.  They  are  supposed  to  be  of  Japanese  origin, 
as  their  own  name  Kaigan  is  Japanese,  meaning  seashore,  and  they 
have  features  resembling  the  Japanese.  Their  artistic  talents,  also, 
would  seem  to  point  to  the  same  derivation. 

The  island  is  wonderfully  diversified  with  bays  and  inlets.  Besides 
the  mines  of  copper  and  gold  that  have  been  recently  exploited,  there 
are  deposits  of  excellent  marble  and  granite.  The  forests  are  included 
in  the  United  States  Eeservation. 

Vancouver's  "  very  remarkable  barren,  peaked  mountain  "  at  the 
north  end  of  the  island  has  been  reported  as  a  volcano. 

Kasaan  Bay  penetrates  into  the  interior  for  seventeen  miles.  It  is 
named  after  the  village  of  the  redoubtable  old  chief  Skowl,  who  was 
the  Kamehameha  of  the  Eagle  Clan  and  ruled  his  people  with  an  iron 
hand.  No  missionaries  for  him!  On  his  totem-pole  were  carved  the 
image  of  a  priest,  an  angel  and  a  book  in  derisive  reference  to  the 
efforts  to  make  "  a  good  Indian  "  of  him.  His  daughter  was  married 
to  a  Russian  promyshlenik  who  was  one  of  the  first  pelagic  seal-fishers 
and  he  probably  engaged  also  in  smuggling.  At  his  fishery  on  Karta 
Bay  at  the  end  of  the  Kasaan  Bay  United  States  customs  officers  found 
in  1885  forty  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  prepared  opium  packed  in 
barrels  and  ready  to  be  imported  in  the  guise  of  salted  salmon.  Skowl 's 
name  is  preserved  on  or  in  a  long-stretching  inlet  or  arm. 

A  few  miles  farther  south  the  island  is  almost  cut  in  two  by 
Cholmondeley  Sound  which  reaches  by  a  portage  within  less  than  four 
miles  of  Hetta  Inlet  and  the  safe  landlocked  reaches  of  Tlevak  Strait. 


THE    NORTHWARD    PASSAGE.  105 

Cholmondeley  Sound  is  rendered  interesting  and  beautiful  by  Eudora 
Mountain,  which  rises  to  a  height  of  thirty-five  hundred  feet.  This 
mountain  is  also  reached  by  Moira  Sound,  which  is  famed  for  its 
beauty. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

WKABTGEL   AND   THE   GLACIERS. 

THE  steamship  ploughs  through  the  Duke  of  Clarence  Strait 
which  runs  for  more  than  a  hundred  miles  between  the  two 
great  islands.  Its  first  stop  is  at  "Wrangel,  or  Vrangel,  the 
second  oldest  town  in  Southeastern  Alaska.  It  was  built  on  the  island 
of  the  same  name  by  Lieutenant  Dionisi  Feodorovitch  Zarembo,  whose 
mission  was  to  prevent  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  from  erecting  tra- 
ding-posts on  the  Stikine  Eiver.  His  action  was  contrary  to  treaty  and 
the  Russians  had  to  pay  a  heavy  indemnity,  and  lease  to  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  the  thirty  mile  strip  or  lisiere  from  Dixon  Entrance  to 
Yakutat.  The  English  settlement  was  called  Fort  Stikine,  but  the  name 
did  not  stick.  The  discovery  of  gold  on  the  reaches  of  that  river  caused 
the  fur  trade  to  sink  into  insignificance.  In  1867  the  United  States 
military  forces  established  a  garrison  there,  including  a  hospital,  resi- 
dence for  officers  and  men,  bakery,  storehouses,  stables  and  other  build- 
ings. All  this  property,  when  the  post  was  abandoned  three  years 
later,  was  sold  to  a  local  trader  and  sutler  for  six  hundred  dollars,  — 
an  excellent  illustration  of  the  general  carelessness  with  which  affairs 
in  Alaska  were  managed.  Twenty  years  later,  after  a  considerable 
period  of  litigation,  the  property  was  restored  to  the  Government,  the 
original  sale  having  been  declared  illegal.  The  purchaser  received 
back  his  six  hundred  dollars  with  compound  interest. 

Since  then  Wrangel  has  had  its  ups  and  downs.  Houses  were  in  de- 
mand and  trade  was  good  during  the  temporary  excitement  of  the  gold 
quest  in  the  Cassiar  district ;  then  when  the  mines  up  the  Stikine  were 
abandoned,  it  again  relapsed  into  stagnation.  Even  the  forest  of  totem- 

106 


WRANGEL    AND    THE    GLACIERS.  107 

poles  that  designated  the  native  village  was  stripped;  as  late  as  1893 
only  half  a  dozen  remained.  The  town  itself  has  been  almost  destroyed 
by  fire  in  recent  years  and  there  are  comparatively  few  remains  of 
the  ancient  days. 

The  curious  visitor  is  taken  to  see  the  grave  of  the  historic  old  chief, 
Shakes,  who  was  for  nearly  half  a  century  the  terror  of  the  coast.  He 
opposed  the  missionaries,  and  furnished  the  natives  with  the  intoxicat- 
ing huchinu,  or  native  rum,  distilled  from  molasses  and  flour.  When 
he  died  there  were  great  ceremonies.  His  body  was  exposed  in  all  his 
trappings.  His  treasures  of  carven  chests,  of  blankets  and  of  furs 
were  piled  high.  An  enormous  stuffed  grizzly  —  the  emblem  of  his 
glorious  line  —  with  copper  claws  and  waggling  jaws  was  made  to 
take  part  in  a  theatrical  representation  depicting  the  ancient  days  when 
Shakes 's  ancestors,  at  the  time  of  the  flood,  took  a  bear  into  their  canoe 
and  saved  him  from  drowning  and  were  rewarded  by  the  reciprocal 
generosity  of  the  bear,  who,  when  the  canoe  grounded,  brought  his 
rescuers  food.  Over  Shakes 's  grave,  when  at  last  he  was  laid  to  rest, 
a  bear  was  put  on  guard. 

The  climate  of  Wrangel  is  eminently  favorable  for  market  garden- 
ing. Mrs.  Scidmore  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  cabbages  and 
mangel-wurzel  reach  prodigious  size ;  cauliflowers  are  produced  meas- 
uring eighteen  inches  around ;  and  peas,  beans,  lettuce,  celery,  rhubarb 
and  radishes  thrive.  Wild  timothy  grows  six  feet  high  in  old  clearings, 
and  clover  heads  are  twice  the  size  of  eastern  clover,  each  blossom 
widespread,  as  red  and  fragrant  as  a  carnation  pink. 

Wrangel  is  situated  near  the  mouth  of  the  Stikine  Eiver,  the  third 
largest  river  of  the  Alaskan  coast,  which  was  reached  but  not  discov- 
ered by  Vancouver's  men.  It  was  first  reported  by  two  American  ship 
captains  in  1799.  Its  head  waters  were  first  discovered  in  1838  by  a 
Scotch  employee  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  who,  in  crossing  the 
mountains,  came  upon  a  foaming  torrent  and  followed  it  down  until 
he  fell  in  with  a  large  camp  of  Indians  engaged  in  catching  salmon 
and  trading  with  the  famous  chief  Shakes.  From  them  he  learned  that 


108  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

the  name  of  the  river  was  Stikine.  It  should  properly  be  Sta  Kina, 
which  is  said  to  mean  great  river.  From  Wrangel  to  Glenora,  the  head 
of  navigation,  the  distance  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Forty 
years  later  John  Muir  traversed  its  whole  length  and  counted  not  less 
than  a  hundred  glaciers  that  drained  directly  into  the  river.  The  grand 
canon  of  the  Stikine  he  declared  to  be  a  Yosemite  a  hundred  miles  long. 

Forty  miles  above  Wrangel  and  easily  reached  is  the  Great  or  Or- 
lebar  Glacier,  which  descends  through  a  narrow  gorge  and  spreads 
out  in  a  semicircle  measuring  about  three  miles  from  edge  to  edge. 
Across  the  river,  near  the  wonderful  hot  springs,  is  a  smaller  glacier, 
which,  according  to  an  Indian  tradition,  was  once  united  with  the  Great 
Glacier,  the  river  disappearing  into  an  ice  tunnel.  They  sent  two  of 
their  old  men  into  it  in  a  canoe.  Would  they  ever  appear  again?  Yes, 
they  returned  and  reported  that  there  was  a  clear  passage  to  the  sea. 
In  the  little  canon  the  river  narrows  to  less  than  a  hundred  feet,  and 
the  current,  especially  when  there  are  floods,  is  almost  invincible,  as 
the  early  argonauts  discovered  to  their  sorrow.  On  the  upper  reaches 
of  the  river  the  great  canon  extends  for  fifty  miles  through  a  rocky 
gorge  traversible  only  in  winter  when  there  is  a  solid  floor  of  snow 
and  ice. 

The  yield  of  the  placers  of  the  Cassiar  gold  region  at  the  head  waters 
of  the  Stikine  is  estimated  to  have  amounted  to  nearly  five  million  dol- 
lars between  1874  and  1887,  when  its  annual  output  fell  from  a  million 
to  a  little  more  than  sixty  thousand  dollars.  The  larger  part  of  the 
river  flows  through  the  Dominion  territory  and  the  boundary  for  years 
gave  rise  to  misunderstandings. 

From  Wrangel  one  can  sail  straight  out  into  the  Pacific  by  the  Sum- 
ner  Strait,  which  is  about  eighty  miles  long.  Formerly  ships  proceed- 
ing north  had  to  make  this  wide  detour,  passing  through  Chatham 
Strait  and  Frederick  Sound,  but  skilful  captains  now  pilot  their  course 
through  Wrangel  Narrows.  This  strait  is  nineteen  miles  long  and  in 
places  not  three  hundred  feet  wide.  Vancouver's  explorers  entered 
it,  but  thinking  it  merely  an  inlet  turned  back.  It  was  first  traversed 


WRANGEL    AND    THE    GLACIERS.  109 

by  the  United  States  Steamer  Saginaw  in  1869.  Fifteen  years  later 
Captain  J.  B.  Coghlan  established  the  route  and  it  has  now  been 
charted.  It  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  show  trips  of  Alaska.  The 
shores  of  the  islands  between  which  it  runs  are  densely  wooded,  the 
trees  thickly  hung  with  the  pale  green  Northern  moss.  There  are 
glimpses  of  lofty  mountains.  The  intensely  green  water  is  alive  with 
floating  fronds  of  orange  yellow  kelp.  Here  is  the  haunt  of  number- 
less eagles.  The  tides,  here  confined  by  narrow  channels,  rise  often 
to  a  height  of  more  than  twenty  feet  and  those  from  the  north  and 
south  meet  in  the  narrows  near  what  is  called  Finger  Point,  and  the 
battle  of  the  waters  is  most  dangerous  and  exciting.  All  tourists  are 
enthusiastic  over  the  beauty  of  sunsets  and  sunrises  in  this  enchanting 
region.  Mrs.  Scidmore  says : ' '  The  sunset  effects  in  the  broad  channels 
at  either  end  are  renowned,  and  the  possessor  of  a  Claude  Lorraine 
glass  is  the  most  fortunate  of  tourists.  He  who  has  seen  the  sunrise 
lights  in  the  narrows  has  seen  the  best  of  the  marvellous  atmospheric 
and  color  displays  the  matchless  coast  can  offer." 

Mrs.  Ella  Higginson  testifies  to  the  same:  "  Sunrise  and  sunset 
effects  in  this  narrow  channel  are  justly  famed.  I  once  saw  a  mist 
blown  ahead  of  my  steamer  at  sunset,  that,  in  the  vivid  brilliancy  of 
its  mingled  scarlets,  greens  and  purples,  rivalled  the  coloring  of  a 
humming  bird.  At  dawn  long  rays  of  delicate  pink,  beryl  and  pearl 
play  through  this  green  avenue,  deepening  in  color,  fading  and  with- 
drawing like  Northern  Lights.  When  the  scene  is  silvered  and  softened 
by  moonlight  one  looks  for  elves  and  fairies  in  the  shadows  of  the  moss- 
dripping  spruce  trees.  The  silence  is  so  intense  and  the  channel  so 
narrow  that  frequently  at  dawn  wild  birds  on  the  shores  are  heard 
saluting  the  sun  with  song;  and  never,  under  any  circumstances,  has 
bird  song  seemed  so  nearly  divine,  so  golden  with  magic  and  message, 
as  when  thrilled  through  the  fragrant  green  stillness  of  Wrangel  Nar- 
rows at  such  an  hour. ' ' 

Prince  Frederick  Sound,  into  which  the  steamer  emerges,  was  so 
named  from  having  been  the  meeting  place  of  two  of  Vancouver's  lieu- 


110  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

tenants  on  the  birthday  of  the  Duke  of  York  in  1794.  They  landed 
on  Kupreanof  Island  and  there  decided  that  the  search  for  the  passage 
from  the  Pacific  into  the  Atlantic  was  mythical,  all  the  stories  of  pre- 
vious navigators  to  the  contrary.  Mrs.  Scidmore  says :  * '  With  no 
small  portion  of  facetious  mirth  they  remembered  that  they  had  sailed 
from  England  on  the  first  day  of  April  to  find  the  Northwest  Passage. 
These  lieutenants  made  plain  to  their  chief  the  *  uncommonly  awful ' 
and  '  horribly  magnificent  '  character  of  the  scenery  along  the  Prince 
Frederick  shore,  and  Vancouver  began  the  lavish  use  of  adjectives 
which  is  in  vogue  in  Alaskan  narrative  to-day." 

This  refers  to  a  passage  in  which  Lieutenant  Whidbey,  describing 
the  mountains  to  the  south  that  "  rose  to  a  prodigious  height,"  said: 
"  A  part  of  them  presented  an  uncommonly  awful  appearance,  rising 
with  an  inclination  toward  the  water  to  a  vast  height,  loaded  with  an 
immense  quantity  of  ice  and  snow,  and  overhanging  their  base,  which 
seemed  to  be  insufficient  to  bear  the  ponderous  fabric  it  sustained,  and 
rendered  the  view  of  the  passage  beneath  horribly  magnificent." 

As  the  vessel  approaches  the  sound  the  eye  is  attracted  by  a  dark 
spire-shaped  peak  which  rises  nearly  two  thousand  feet  from  the  rim 
of  a  mountain  amphitheater  on  the  mainland.  It  has  been  called  the 
Devil's  Thumb  with  that  generosity  toward  the  Powers  of  Darkness 
which  scatters  testimonials  to  their  presence  all  along  the  coasts  of  the 
world.  The  mountains  rise  to  a  height  of  seven  thousand  feet  and  as 
one  sails  to  the  north  crossing  the  sound,  the  first  coast  glaciers  are 
encountered.  Patterson  glacier  pours  down  over  a  long  slope  and  con- 
tributes a  fine  waterfall.  In  Vancouver's  time  it  approached  near 
enough  to  the  shore  for  icebergs  to  tumble  off  into  the  water.  He 
describes  the  weird  effect  of  the  thunderous  crash  heard  at  a  distance 
of  several  miles. 

This  phenomenon  is  first  observed  at  the  present  time  at  the  inlet 
poetically  named  by  the  Indians  Hutli  or  Thunder  Bay,  but,  with  fatal 
banality,  Le  Conte  Bay  and  Glacier  Bay,  by  the  Coast  Survey.  The 
clear  blue  ice  which  comes  gliding  and  sliding  down  through  a  steep 


WRANGEL    AND    THE    GLACIERS.  HI 

canon  forested  to  its  very  edge  is  about  half  a  mile  wide,  and  the  enor- 
mous cakes  of  cleavage  breaking  off  fall  crashing  into  the  water,  caus- 
ing the  superstitious  natives  to  believe  that  the  bay  was  the  home  of 
the  thunder-birds,  whose  flapping  pinions  caused  the  echoes  to  roll 
from  the  cliffs. 

The  finest  views  of  the  glaciers  are  obtained  from  Thomas  Bay  and 
the  most  noticeable  feature  of  the  sound  is  Cape  Fanshaw,  fronting 
the  southwest  and  exposed  to  the  fierce  winds  that  sweep  that  re- 
gion. 

Beyond  lies  Mount  Windham,  which  is  twenty-five  hundred  feet  high 
and  looks  down  upon  the  exhausted  gold  fields  of  the  seventies.  The 
meadows  on  the  shoulders  of  the  high  hills  here  are  famous  for  their 
display  of  beautiful  flowers  —  dwarf  laurel,  violets,  daisies,  anemones 
and  the  black  Kamchatka  lily.  When  they  were  explored  by  John 
Muir  in  1879  they  were  the  haunt  of  the  mountain  goat  and  mountain 
sheep. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Sumdum  Bay  is  the  mining  town  of  the  same  name. 
The  Indian  word  is  said  to  represent  or  express  the  thunder  of  the 
falling  ice.  There  is  a  fine  glacier  sliding  down  from  the  mountains 
beyond.  The  bay  divides  into  two  arms,  each  marked  by  glaciers,  and 
aggregating  a  length  of  nearly  fifty  miles.  It  is  a  deep  marine  canon, 
soundings  having  reached  two  hundred  fathoms.  Captain  White  of 
the  U.  S.  S.  ship  Wayanda  steered  his  gig  into  the  arched  grotto  of 
one  of  those  glaciers  and  penetrated  more  than  a  hundred  feet  "  down 
a  crystalline  corridor  "  of  marvellous  colors.  His  crew  poured  out 
libations  to  the  ice-spirits,  the  Sitt  tu  yekh,  whose  chill  breath  is  death 
and  who  resent  interference  with  his  subjects,  the  icebergs.  The  sap- 
phire eyed  divinity  accepted  the  libations  graciously;  had  he  been 
angry  he  would  have  ruthlessly  shaken  down  the  crystalline  arch  and 
overwhelmed  the  audacious  mortals. 

Muir  regarded  Sumdum  Bay  as  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  Alas- 
kan fjords.  He  says:  "  A  hundred  or  more  glaciers  of  the  second 
and  third  class  may  be  seen  along  the  walls,  and  about  as  many  snow 


112  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

cataracts,  which,  with  the  plunging  bergs,  keep  all  the  fjord  in  a  roar. 
The  scenery  in  both  the  long  arms  of  the  bay  and  their  side  branches 
is  of  the  wildest  description,  especially  in  the  upper  reaches,  where 
the  granite  walls,  streaked  with  waterfalls,  rise  in  sheer  massive  preci- 
pices, like  those  of  Yosemite  Valley,  to  a  height  of  three  thousand  and 
even  over  four  thousand  feet. ' ' 

The  great  Admiralty  Island,  one  of  the  largest  of  the  group,  lies  to 
the  west  of  Stephens  Passage.  Like  all  the  rest  it  is  deeply  indented 
with  inlets,  many  of  which  are  deep  and  characterized  by  swift  and 
dangerous  tidal  currents.  There  are  mountains  that  rise  to  a  height 
of  three  and  four  thousand  feet.  The  cliffs  along  the  coast  are  rugged 
and  wild.  In  the  interior,  which  has  not  as  yet  been  thoroughly  ex- 
plored, are  many  lakes.  Gold  abounds  and  there  are  mines  of  coal  and 
quarries  of  fine  marble.  The  timber,  especially  the  yellow  cedar,  is 
among  the  best  in  Alaska.  For  many  years  this  region  was  the  centre 
of  the  whaling  industry,  and  was  the  haunt  of  the  most  blood-thirsty 
of  the  native  tribes.  The  annals  are  full  of  exciting  tales  of  their 
incursions  along  the  coast.  Thus  in  1857  a  party  of  about  a  thousand 
sailed  on  to  Puget  Sound,  shot  Colonel  Eby,  the  Collector  of  Customs, 
on  Whidbey  Island,  and  several  other  men,  mounted  their  heads  on 
poles  and  paddled  away  in  triumph.  They  were  emboldened  by  their 
impunity  and  a  few  years  later  they  seized  and  scuttled  the  schooner 
Royal  Charlie,  and  murdered  the  crew.  A  Sitka  sentry  shot  one  of 
them  in  1869  and  in  revenge  they  killed  two  Sitka  traders.  Then  the 
Saginaw  appeared  and  destroyed  three  of  their  villages  on  the  upper 
end  of  the  island  of  Kupreanof. 

In  1880  the  Northwest  Trading  Company  established  a  whaling 
station  at  Killionu,  at  the  entrance  of  the  remarkable  Kutznahu  Inlet. 
A  bomb  harpoon  exploded  in  1882  and  killed  a  great  shaman  or  medi- 
cine man.  The  Kutznahus  demanded  an  indemnity  of  two  hundred 
blankets.  When  it  was  refused  they  captured  a  white  man  as  ransom. 
He  proved  to  be  blind  in  one  eye  and  was  returned  with  a  message  that 
they  would  exterminate  the  whites  at  the  settlement  unless  their  de- 


WRANGEL    AND    THE    GLACIERS.  115 

mand  was  satisfied.  Word  was  sent  to  Captain  Merriman  at  Sitka; 
he  took  the  revenue  cutter  and  bombarded  the  Indian  village  of  An- 
gun.  Mrs.  Scidmore  relating  the  occurrence  says :  '  *  Much  indig- 
nation was  vented  by  eastern  editors  at  the  occurrence,  and  sad  pic- 
tures were  drawn  of  the  natives  left  shelterless  among  '  the  eternal 
ice  and  snow  of  an  arctic  winter.'  The  mercury  stood  twenty  degrees 
higher  for  the  month  than  in  New  York  and  Boston  and  the  Kootz- 
nahoos,  securing  front  seats  on  the  opposite  shore,  watched  the  bom- 
bardment and  cheered  the  nearest  shots.  The  tribe  saved  their  winter 
provisions  and  all  their  belongings  save  what  pilferers  took  during 
the  bombardment.  They  paid  a  fine  of  four  hundred  blankets  and  have 
since  kept  the  peace. ' ' 

Their  Chief  Kitchnatti,  known  to  tourists  as  Saginaw  Jake,  because 
of  his  year's  imprisonment  on  the  steamship  as  a  ransom,  used  to  swell 
around  in  a  gay  uniform  and  announce  his  greatness  by  a  doggerel 
placard  placed  over  his  log  cabin  at  Killionu. 

These  Indians  are  now  insignificant  in  numbers. 

Another  much  dreaded  tribe  of  natives  were  the  Takus,  whose  name 
is  commemorated  in  a  mountain  two  thousand  feet  high,  symmetrical 
in  shape  and  densely  wooded,  and  also  in  an  inlet  and  a  glacier.  The 
Takus  have  been  called  "  the  Alaska  Jews,"  so  keen  and  mercenary 
were  they.  They  drove  away  the  garrison  from  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany's Fort  Durham  and  looted  more  than  one  of  their  fur  ships. 

The  Taku  Inlet  extends  for  about  eighteen  miles  and  ends  in  a  mag- 
nificent glacier  called  by  the  natives  Sitth  Klunu  Gutta,  * '  the  Spirits ' 
home."  The  natives  believed  that  the  monstrous  man-faced  seals 
dwelt  in  its  crystal  grottoes.  The  ice-stream  is  about  a  mile  wide  and 
rises  several  hundred  feet  above  the  water.  The  ice  is  of  remarkable 
purity  and  serves  to  supply  the  refrigerators  of  visiting  ships.  Mrs. 
Higginson  describes  it  with  her  usual  brilliancy  of  impressionistic  col- 
oring: 

"  The  splendid  front  drops  down  sheer  to  the  water,  from  a  height 
of  probably  three  hundred  feet. 


116  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

' '  A  sapphire  mist  drifts  over  it,  without  obscuring  the  exquisite  tint- 
ings  of  rose,  azure,  purple  and  green  that  flash  out  from  the  glistening 
spires  and  columns.  The  crumpled  mass  pushing  down  from  the  moun- 
tains strains  against  the  front  and  sends  towered  bulks  plunging  head- 
long into  the  sea,  with  a  roar  that  echoes  from  peak  to  peak  in  a  kind 
of  '  linked  sweetness  long  drawn  out  '  and  ever  diminishing." 

The  report  of  a  cannon  or  the  vibration  of  a  steamer's  whistle  will 
dislodge  enormous  masses  of  the  disintegrating  ice,  making  the  passage 
into  the  bay  almost  impossible  for  large  vessels  and  dangerous  for 
small  ones. 

Mrs.  Higginson  cannot  forgive  early  discoverer  Whidbey's  insular 
blindness  to  beauty.  "  He  found  '  a  compact  body  of  ice  extending 
some  distance  nearly  all  around. '  He  found  '  frozen  mountains, ' '  rock 
sides,'  *  dwarf  pine  trees  '  and  *  undissolving  frost  and  snow.'  He 
lamented  the  lack  of  a  suitable  landing  place  for  boats,  and  reported 
the  aspect  in  general  to  be  *  as  dreary  and  inhospitable  as  the  imagina- 
tion can  possibly  suggest.'  Alas  for  the  poor  chilly  Englishman," 
continues  his  critic, ' '  he  doubtless  expected  silvery-gowned  ice  maidens 
to  come  sliding  out  from  under  the  glacier  in  pearly  boats,  to  bear  him 
back  into  their  deep  blue  grottoes  and  dells  of  ice,  and  refresh  him 
with  Kussian  tea  from  old  brass  samovars ;  he  expected  these  maidens 
to  be  girdled  and  crowned  with  carnations  and  poppies,  and  to  pluck 
winy  grapes  —  with  dust  clinging  to  their  bloomy  roundness  —  from 
living  vines  for  him  to  eat ;  and  most  of  all  he  expected  to  find  in  some 
remote  corner  of  the  clear  and  sparkling  cavern  a  big  fireplace,  '  which 
would  remind  him  pleasantly  of  England,'  and  a  brilliant  fire  on  a 
well-swept  hearth,  with  the  smoke  and  sparks  going  up  through  a 
melted  hole  in  the  glacier. ' ' 

The  Taku  River  has  been  navigated  with  canoes  for  sixty  miles  and 
from  its  head  waters  there  is  comparatively  easy  communication  with 
affluents  of  the  Yukon.  But  the  valley  swarms  with  mosquitoes. 

The  open  space  where  Stephens  Passage  and  Taku  Inlet  resolve  into 
the  long  Gastineau  Channel  bears  an  evil  name  among  sailors.  "  In 


WRANGEL    AND    THE    GLACIERS.  117 

winter,"  says  Mrs.  Scidmore,  "  fierce  willawaws  or  '  woolies  '  sweep 
from  the  heights,  beat  the  water  to  foam,  and  drive  the  spray  in  dense, 
blinding  sheets,  but  in  summer  it  smiles  and  ripples  in  perfect  peace, 
sparkles  with  little  icebergs,  and  is  a  point  of  magnificent  views."  Mrs. 
Higginson  evidently  had  the  same  experience  with  this  place.  She 
says: 

' '  The  stretch  of  water  where  Stephens  Passage,  Taku  Inlet,  Gasti- 
neau  Channel,  and  the  southeastern  arm  of  Lynn  Canal  converge  is 
in  winter  dreaded  by  pilots.  A  squall  is  liable  to  come  tearing  down 
Taku  Inlet  at  any  moment  and  meet  one  from  some  other  direction, 
to  the  peril  of  navigation.  At  times  a  kind  of  fine  frozen  mist  is  driven 
across  by  the  violent  gales,  making  it  difficult  to  see  a  ship's  length 
ahead.  At  such  times  the  expressive  faces  on  the  bridge  of  a  steamer 
are  psychological  studies. 

"  In  summer,  however,  no  open  stretch  of  water  could  be  more  in- 
viting. Clear,  faintly  rippled,  deep  sapphire,  flecked  with  the  first 
glittering  bergs  floating  out  of  the  inlet,  it  leads  the  way  to  the  glorious 
presence  that  lies  beyond." 


CHAPTER   XII. 

JUNEAU   AND   SKAGUAY. 

JUNEAU,  the  present  capital  of  Alaska,  is  situated  on  the  main- 
land, about  ten  miles  above  the  entrance  to  Gastineau  Channel. 
It  is  flanked  by  Mount  Juneau  rising  sheer  to  a  height  of  three 
thousand  feet  and  glittering  with  patches  of  snow  and  airy  waterfalls. 
The  wharves  line  the  beach;  numbered  avenues  run  parallel  on  ter- 
races, while  extremely  steep  streets,  intersecting,  climb  toward  the  top 
of  "  Chicken  Ridge."  Greely  declares  that  there  is  not  within  the 
limits  of  the  town  a  naturally  level  spot  a  hundred  feet  square.  The 
court  house  stands  out  on  the  top  of  the  hill.  There  are  a  number 
of  churches,  a  hospital,  an  "  opera  house,"  and  of  course  a  rivalry  of 
women's  clubs.  Two  daily  papers  having  the  benefit  of  reduced  tele- 
graph rates  keep  the  inhabitants  in  touch  with  the  great  world.  The 
water  supply  is  abundant  and  good ;  the  streets  are  brilliantly  lighted 
with  electricity. 

Contrary  to  general  belief  the  winter  climate  of  Juneau  is  far  milder 
than  that  of  Boston.  The  mercury  never  goes  much  below  zero.  The 
average  for  January  is  about  twenty-seven  degrees  and  for  February 
about  twenty-five  degrees.  The  precipitation  is  generally  in  the  form  of 
rain  near  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  mountains  which  rise  to  a  height 
of  not  more  than  a  mile  are  densely  wooded  for  two-thirds  of  that 
elevation.  Almost  all  the  vegetables  of  the  Temperate  Zone  grow 
abundantly  in  the  vicinity  of  Juneau.  Noticeable  are  "  vine-clad  or 
flower-embowered  cottages  reached  by  gray  mossed  stairways."  The 
population  of  the  town  of  Juneau  varies  from  two  to  three  thousand, 
being  increased  in  winter  by  the  influx  of  miners  from  the  colder  in- 
terior. 

118 


JUNEAU    AND    SKAGUAY.  119 

General  Greely  says  that  in  his  ten  visits  to  the  town  he  has  experi- 
enced no  importunity  by  beggars  or  any  affront  from  the  mythical 
border  ruffian,  or  witnessed  any  offensive  drunken  scenes  or  street 
disorders.  "  In  short,"  he  says,  "  Juneau  is  a  well-governed,  intelli- 
gent, thriving,  self-respecting  town." 

Mrs.  Higginson  describes  her  first  visit  there : 

"  The  unique  situation  of  Juneau  appeals  powerfully  to  the  lover 
of  beauty.  There  is  an  unforgetable  charm  in  its  narrow  crooked 
streets  and  winding  mossed  stairways ;  its  picturesque  shops  —  some 
with  gorgeous  totem-poles  for  signs  —  where  a  small  fortune  may  be 
spent  on  a  single  Attu  or  Atka  basket;  the  glitter  and  the  music  of 
its  streets  and  its  '  places, '  the  latter  open  all  night ;  its  people  stand- 
ing in  doorways  and  open  corners,  eager  to  talk  to  strangers  and  bid 
them  welcome ;  and  its  gayly  clad  squaws,  surrounded  by  fine  baskets 
and  other  work  of  their  brown  hands.  •  In  the  heart  of  the  town  is  an 
old  Presbyterian  Mission  church,  built  of  logs,  with  an  artistic  square 
tower,  also  of  logs,  at  one  corner.  This  church  is  now  used  as  a  brewery 
and  soda-bottling  establishment." 

After  the  discovery  made  by  Eichard  Harris  and  Joseph  Juneau 
in  October,  1880,  there  was  a  stampede  to  the  Taku  region.  Many 
spent  the  winter  at  Miner's  Cove  so  as  to  be  on  hand  when  spring 
broke.  During  the  first  year  a  guard  of  United  States  Marines  pre- 
served order,  but  when  it  was  withdrawn  a  reign  of  lawlessness  ensued. 
The  miners  themselves  instituted  a  vigilance  committee,  but  the  Govern- 
ment afforded  no  protection  and  refused  even  to  pass  any  land  laws. 
Even  when  they  were  passed  the  absurd  regulation  that  all  claims 
must  be  rectangular  and  drawn  north  and  south  made  them  impossible 
of  application.  The  new  settlement  was  first  called  Pilsbury,  after  the 
first  assayer  who  arrived;  then  Fliptown  by  jocular  miners;  then 
Rockwell  after  the  commander  of  Jamestown;  then  Harrisburg,  and, 
at  the  meeting  when  in  May,  1882,  finally  the  name  Juneau  was  adopted 
all  the  Chinese  were  driven  from  the  camp.  Four  years  later  anti- 
Chinese  riots  resulted  in  grievous  wrongs  to  the  long-cued  Celestials. 


120  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

The  Chinese  cabins  were  dynamited  and  the  Chinese  were  all  forcibly 
put  aboard  a  schooner  and  set  adrift  without  any  provisions. 

About  five  miles  across  the  channel  from  Juneau  on  Douglas  Island, 
which  is  twenty-five  miles  long  and  from  five  to  eight  miles  wide,  lie 
the  famous  Treadwell  mines,  which  are  regarded  as  the  second  largest 
in  the  world.  The  quartz  has  been  excavated  to  a  depth  of  one  thousand 
feet  and  the  tunnels  run  under  the  channel.  The  eight  or  nine  hundred 
stamps  drop  continuously  day  and  night  with  only  two  days  of  rest 
—  Christmas  and  the  glorious  Fourth.  And  the  net  profits  from  the 
ore,  though  it  is  of  low  grade,  are  said  to  be  six  thousand  dollars  a 
day.  The  original  cost  to  John  Treadwell  was  less  than  five  hundred 
dollars.  At  first  he  was  obliged  to  remain  on  his  property  and  drive 
away  the  lawless  squatters  against  whom  he  had  no  other  protection 
than  force.  Millions  were  spent  on  machinery  and  equipment;  no 
expense  has  ever  been  spared  for  improvements  and  it  is  said  that  the 
treatment  of  the  miners  has  been  equitable  and  even  generous.  There 
are  two  towns  aggregating  three  thousand  inhabitants  —  Treadwell, 
where  the  miners  live,  and  Douglas,  mainly  devoted  to  trading  inter- 
ests. They  stretch  along  the  channel  for  a  mile  or  more  and  are 
brilliantly  lighted  and  provided  with  all  the  advantages  of  civiliza- 
tion. 

From  Juneau  to  Skaguay  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  trips  in 
Southern  Alaska.  The  ship  retraces  its  course  as  far  as  the  southern 
end  of  Douglas  Island  and  passes  into  Lynn  Canal  or  Channel,  which 
is  a  continuation  of  Chatham  Strait  separating  Admiralty  from  Chich- 
agof  Islands,  and  making  altogether  a  royal  waterway  averaging  five 
miles  in  width  for  nearly  two  hundred  miles.  Before  the  Eussians 
permitted  their  policy  of  extermination  these  waters  were  the  haunts 
of  countless  sea-otters.  Now  they  are  rarely  seen. 

The  Lynn  Canal,  which  was  named  by  Vancouver  from  his  native 
town  in  Norfolk,  is  called  the  noblest  and  most  majestic  of  the  slender 
waterways  of  Alaska.  It  has  been  sounded  to  a  depth  of  more  than 
twenty-five  hundred  feet,  and  it  is  bounded  by  mountains  rising  more 


JUNEAU    AND    SKAGUAY.  121 

than  a  mile  in  height  on  both  sides.  Snow  covered  peaks  and  domes 
form  a  continuous  panorama  and  the  colors  are  gorgeous,  especially  at 
sunset,  when  the  snows  become  rose,  and  the  reaches  grow  purple  and 
orange.  Even  the  prosaic  Vancouver 's  still  more  prosaic  officer,  Whid- 
bey,  had  to  speak  of  this  fjord  as  "  bounded  by  lofty,  stupendous 
mountains,  .  .  .  forever  doomed  to  support  a  burthen  of  undissolving 
ice  and  snow."  The  undissolving  ice  and  snow  caused  by  the  tremen- 
dous precipitation  nil  the  valleys  and  form  the  wonderful  glaciers  which 
line  the  canal.  One  discovered  by  the  then  Captain  L.  A.  Beardsley  in 
1879  "  is  surmounted  by  a  rocky  crag,  which  resembles  our  national 
bird  so  much  more  than  does  the  figure  on  the  new  dollar  that  we  chris- 
tened it  the  Eagle  Glacier. ' ' 

At  Seduction  Point  the  canal  divides  into  two  channels,  Chilkat 
Inlet  on  the  west  and  Chilkoot  on  the  east.  The  point  was  so  named 
by  Vancouver  because  after  Whidbey  had  explored  the  two  inlets  and 
discovered  the  Chilkat  Eiver,  he  was  met  by  several  canoe-loads  of 
natives  "  of  exceedingly  artful  character  "  led  by  a  very  dignified 
chief  dressed  in  robes  of  state  —  the  narkhin  or  native  blanket  —  a 
blanket  variegated  with  several  colors  and  ornamented  with  little  parti- 
colored tufts,  a  headdress  made  of  wood  resembling  a  crown  and 
adorned  with  copper  spangles  attached  to  wool  and  fur  streamers, 
each  terminating  in  an  ermine  skin.  He  was  suspicious  of  them  and 
his  suspicions  seem  to  have  been  justified,  but  he  escaped  their  treach- 
ery and  withdrew  to  Point  Retreat  on  the  northern  end  of  Admiralty 
Island. 

At  the  head  of  Chilkat  Inlet,  on  Pyramid  Harbor,  is  a  cannery  which 
exploits  the  multitudinous  salmon  which  run  up  the  river.  Back  of  it 
is  Mount  Labouchere  which  rises  almost  perpendicularly  to  a  height 
of  nearly  two  thousand  feet.  The  woods  with  which  it  is  crowned  are 
infested  with  bears.  Summer  visitors  here  usually  find  a  camp  of  Chil- 
kat Indians  who  sell  blankets,  baskets,  spoons  and  curios,  as  well  as 
wonderful  bouquets  of  wild  roses.  The  Chilkat  blankets  are  among 
the  most  famous  of  all  Indian  manufactures.  They  were  formerly  dyed 


122  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

black,  yellow  and  blue  or  red  with  a  black  border  and  of  permanent 
colors,  but  the  demand  for  them  has  induced  their  weavers  to  use  tra- 
der's yarns  in  aniline  dyes.  They  were  woven  of  the  finely  spun  wool 
of  the  mountain  goat  on  a  warp  of  fine  cedar  threads.  Suspended  from 
an  upright  loom  the  symbolism  of  the  native  heraldry  is  often  per- 
petuated in  their  ornamentation :  the  full  face  with  wide  nostrils,  tiny 
eyes  and  savage  teeth  represents  the  bear ;  the  claws  and  inverted  eye 
stand  for  the  presence  of  the  thunder-bird. 

The  Chilkats  and  Chilkoots,  two  branches  of  the  great  ethnographic 
division  of  the  Alaska  Indians  called  Tlingits  or  Thlinkits,  a  word 
meaning  men,  controlled  the  passes  into  the  Yukon  region.  No  mem- 
bers of  other  tribes  dared  cross  their  domain  and  for  many  years  they 
were  ready  to  attack  any  white  prospectors  or  explorers.  All  the  clans 
of  this  great  tribe  had  similar  customs  and  beliefs.  They  were  like  the 
primitive  Scots  in  their  heraldry.  Each  clan  had  its  own  totem  or 
symbol,  generally  representing  some  bird,  fish  or  animal.  The  two 
great  divisions  were  the  Eaven  Clan,  including  the  Frog,  the  Goose, 
the  Sea  Lion,  the  Owl  and  the  Salmon,  who  claimed  to  be  descended 
from  Yeshl,  the  great  Creator,  whose  dwelling-place  is  where  the  East 
wind  begins  to  blow;  and  the  Wolf  Clan,  descended  from  Khenukh, 
guardian  of  the  sacred  well,  and  including  the  Bear,  the  Eagle,  the 
Porpoise,  the  Shark  and  others.  At  dances  and  great  ceremonies  the 
people  would  frequently  dress  up  to  represent  the  clan  totem;  and 
easily  recognized  parts  of  it  —  a  wing,  or  a  tooth,  or  an  eye  - 
would  be  painted  on  canvas  or  shields  or  woven  into  blankets  and 
baskets. 

Men  could  not  marry  into  their  own  clan  and  when  they  procured 
wives  from  a  different  clan  the  symbol  of  the  new  connection  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  heraldic  totem-pole,  which  thus  became,  as  it  were,  a 
family-tree.  The  unfortunate  persuasions  of  the  early  missionaries 
which  led  many  of  the  converts  to  destroy  their  wonderfully  carved 
and  colored  poles  can  not  be  sufficiently  regretted.  Thousands  of  them 
have  disappeared.  The  Harriman  expedition  visited  several  deserted 


JUNEAU    AND    SKAGUAY.  123 

villages  along  the  coast  where  the  poles  were  still  standing  —  mute 
witnesses  of  a  perished  people. 

The  great  Russian  missionary,  Veniaminof,  made  many  interesting 
observations  on  their  habits  and  customs.  Their  favorite  medium 
of  exchange  was  blankets,  and  they  were  sufficiently  mercenary  to  be 
satisfied  for  any  injury,  even  for  a  mortal  one,  with  a  payment  in  that 
commodity.  This  was  not  always  reasonably  reckoned.  Thus  it  is 
said  that  when  a  Sitkan  Thlinkit  broke  into  the  cabin  of  a  white  man 
and  drank  himself  to  death,  his  clan  demanded  and  received  compen- 
sation as  if  they  had  been  to  blame.  On  another  occasion  a  trading 
schooner  rescued  two  Thlinkit  fishermen  from  a  sinking  canoe.  The 
owners  themselves  cut  the  craft  adrift,  but  when  the  humane  captain 
went  out  of  his  way  to  land  the  two  men  at  their  village,  the  inhab- 
itants demanded  payment  for  the  lost  canoe  and  threatened  summary 
vengeance  if  it  were  not  instantly  paid. 

In  the  olden  days  these  tribes  made  themselves  as  hideous  as  pos- 
sible, especially  when  about  to  go  into  battle.  Both  men  and  women 
painted  their  faces  black  with  soot  and  red  with  cinnabar,  afterwards 
scratching  horrible  designs  on  them  with  wooden  sticks.  They  wore 
silver  rings  or  even  feathers  or  other  objects  in  the  nose,  the  septum 
being  pierced  in  childhood  for  this  purpose.  The  women  wore  a  huge 
labret  in  the  lower  lip.  On  reaching  marriageable  age  the  lip  was 
pierced  and  a  small  round  piece  of  bone  or  silver  was  inserted.  This 
hole  was  enlarged  gradually,  in  some  cases  the  ornament  being  two 
inches  in  diameter,  making  the  lip  protrude  and  rendering  it  impos- 
sible to  close.  The  old  chieftainess  who  attacked  Vancouver  so  fiercely 
was  conspicuous  by  reason  of  this  disgusting  deformity.  They  also 
pierced  their  ears  to  commemorate  some  great  exploit.  Their  war 
canoes  were  frequently  carved  out  from  a  single  log  large  enough  to 
carry  forty  or  fifty  men,  and  were  ornamented  at  bow  and  stern  with 
gayly  colored  barbaric  carvings,  as  were  also  the  paddles  and  oars. 
They  had  the  art  of  forging  copper  and  they  even  carved  jade.  Eth- 
nologists have  traced  a  connection  between  the  language  of  the  Thlin- 


124  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

kits  and  the  Apaches  as  well  as  of  the  Aztecs.  It  is  possible  that  the 
earliest  immigrants  came  from  Asia  and  descended  toward  the  south. 
Their  own  legends  indicate  a  contrary  arrival. 

Confined  to  a  narrow  belt  of  coast  the  Thlinkits  were  great  fisher- 
men and  hunters  of  sea-creatures.  From  superstition  they  refrained 
from  killing  birds  and  they  did  not  like  to  interfere  with  bears,  having 
been  imbued  by  their  shamans,  or  medicine  men,  with  the  notion  that 
bears  are  human  beings  in  animal  shape.  Their  treatment  of  new- 
born children  and  of  women  just  delivered  was  cruel  in  the  extreme; 
it  was  a  wonder  that  any  survived.  They  burned  their  dead  and  ac- 
companied the  ceremony  with  curious  actions,  sometimes  the  relatives 
putting  their  heads  in  the  flames  and  burning  off  all  the  hair,  or  other- 
wise torturing  their  flesh.  After  the  cremation  the  relatives  indulged 
in  a  regular  wake  for  four  nights  in  succession,  howling  themselves 
hoarse.  Sometimes  if  the  deceased  was  wealthy  a  slave  or  two  would 
be  killed  to  give  him  service  in  another  world.  At  the  end  of  the  period 
of  mourning  gifts  were  distributed  and  all  present  indulged  in  a  feast. 
The  heir  was  a  sister's  son,  and  he  was  compelled  to  marry  the 
widow. 

This  giving  of  presents  is  called  potlatch,  and  is  often  so  extrava- 
gant as  to  ruin  those  giving  them.  The  ceremony  is  thus  described  by 
Paul  S.  Luttrell :  ' '  The  most  prolific  source  of  potlatching  is  the  erec- 
tion of  new  houses.  ^  The  location  for  the  new  building  is  selected  at 
a '  smoking  council  '  of  the  tribe,  after  which  the  erection  is  commenced, 
the  owner  being  assisted  by  such  members  of  his  tribe  as  are  experts. 
As  it  draws  near  completion  another  council  is  held,  at  which  is  decided 
the  date  of  the  potlatch.  The  whole  tribe  is  notified  and  each  member 
is  expected  to  contribute  something  toward  the  potlatch  and  the  sub- 
sequent feast.  On  the  eventful  morning  all  assemble  at  the  new  house, 
each  in  his  best,  with  the  exposed  portion  of  their  bodies  covered  with 
paint  and  further  embellished  with  wads  of  cotton  pasted  at  irregular 
intervals  on  the  face  and  in  the  hair.  The  festivities  commence  with 
a  dance,  the  women  executing  a  species  of  side-shuffle,  while  the  men 


JUNEAU    AND    SKAGUAY.  125 

augment  the  enthusiasm  by  stamping  their  feet.  Everybody  sings. 
When  the  song  and  dancing  are  finished,  some  one  hands  up  a  bolt  of 
calico,  or  some  blankets,  handkerchiefs,  soap,  or  what  not,  at  the  same 
time  mentioning  the  name  of  the  person  or  persons  to  whom  the  donor 
desires  the  present  to  be  given.  (It  is  well  to  mention  parenthetically, 
that  the  potlatch  presents  and  feast  are  given  to  members  of  opposite 
tribes.)  The  present,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  divided  or  torn  into  as 
many  portions  as  donees,  and  then  presented,  after  which  more  singing 
and  more  presents,  until  everything  is  given  away.  This  may  last 
twenty-four  or  forty-eight  hours,  the  women  during  this  time  never 
leaving  the  house,  and  eating  nothing  save  an  occasional  cracker,  which 
may  have  been  presented  to  them,  moistening  their  throats  as  they 
become  dry  with  the  juice  of  tobacco,  made  moist  in  a  can  of  water. 

11  After  the  potlatch  comes  the  feast.  Bice  has  been  cooked  and 
seasoned  with  molasses  and  seal  oil;  boxes  of  sugar  and  biscuits  are 
opened,  and  an  abundance  of  the  omnipresent  seal  grease  provided. 
Every  available  receptacle,  from  a  washtub  to  an  old  tin  can,  is  used 
for  passing  around  the  food,  and  everybody  eats  until  their  stomachs 
rebel,  go  outside,  relieve  themselves  by  vomiting,  and  return  to  the 
attack,  until  all  has  been  consumed.  They  know  no  such  thing  as  an 
intermediate  point.  The  potlatch  and  subsequent  feast  must  exceed 
the  cost  of  the  simple  structure  in  honor  of  which  it  is  given  many 
times." 

The  Thlinkit  mythology  is  largely  concerned  with  the  adventures 
of  Yeshl,  who  was  able  to  fly  in  the  skin  of  the  long-billed  kutzgatushl 
or  crane.  When  his  jealous  uncle  tried  to  kill  him  as  he  had  killed 
all  of  his  other  nephews  by  upsetting  them  from  a  canoe,  Yeshl  walked 
along  the  sea-bottom  and  escaped.  Then  the  wicked  uncle,  who  seems 
to  correspond  to  Saturn  in  Greek  mythology,  sent  a  great  flood.  Yeshl 
put  on  his  crane  skin  and  flew  up  into  the  skies  until  the  flood  subsided. 
His  manner  of  giving  mankind  light  is  thus  described : 

A  rich  and  powerful  chief  had  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  concealed  in 
three  strong  boxes.  He  also  had  a  daughter  whom  he  loved  and  pam- 


126  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

pered  but  guarded  with  extraordinary  care.  Yeshl  discovered  that  the 
only  way  to  obtain  possession  of  the  treasures  of  light  was  to  be  born 
as  the  chief's  grandson.  He  transformed  himself  into  a  blade  of  grass 
and  when  the  beautiful  maiden  drank  from  her  bowl  he  slipped  down 
her  throat,  and  in  due  time  was  born  as  a  tiny  infant.  Her  father  took 
a  great  fancy  to  this  mysterious  grandson  and  there  was  nothing  that 
he  would  not  give  to  him.  Once  upon  a  time  he  began  to  cry  and  could 
not  be  quieted.  He  managed  to  signify  that  what  he  wanted  was  in 
the  three  sacred  boxes.  The  grandfather  to  pacify  him  let  him  have 
one  of  them.  He  dragged  it  out  of  doors,  opened  the  lid,  and  lo,  the 
stars  were  shining  in  heaven !  The  ruse  worked  similarly  well  in  re- 
gard to  the  moon,  but  when  he  tried  to  obtain  the  third  box  containing 
the  sun  the  grandfather  was  inexorable.  But  when  the  boy  refused  to 
be  comforted  he  let  him  play  with  it  on  the  condition  that  he  should 
not  open  the  lid.  As  soon  as  he  got  it  outside  he  transformed  himself 
into  a  great  raven  and  flew  away  with  the  box.  As  he  flew  he  heard 
voices  but  could  not  see  the  people  because  the  sun  was  still  in  the 
box.  When  at  last  he  opened  it,  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  were 
frightened  at  the  dazzling  brilliancy  and  hid  themselves  and  were 
changed  into  fishes,  bears  and  other  animals  according  to  their  hiding- 
place.  But  the  Thlinkits  were  still  without  fire ;  it  was  only  to  be  found 
on  an  island  far  out  at  sea.  This  Indian  Prometheus  flew  thither, 
picked  up  a  burning  brand  and  hurried  back  with  it ;  but  the  distance 
was  so  great  that  when  he  got  back  the  brand  was  almost  consumed 
and  even  his  bill  was  scorched.  Consequently  he  dropped  the  glowing 
coal  and  the  sparks  were  scattered  over  the  whole  shore ;  that  is  why 
both  wood  and  stone  contain  fire. 

He  also  procured  fresh  water  for  his  people  from  the  sacred  well 
guarded  by  Khenukh,  the  ancestor  of  the  Wolf  clan.  Yeshl  managed 
to  gather  up  some  in  his  bill  and  when  he  flew  back  wherever  he  dropped 
a  drop  of  water  spread  lakes  and  ponds  and  rivers  and  brooks.  Khe- 
nukh was  represented  as  stronger  even  than  Yeshl,  though  not  so 
shrewd,  as  was  proved  by  the  larceny  of  the  water.  When  he  had 


JUNEAU    AND    SKAGUAY.  127 

accomplished  all  he  felt  was  necessary  for  his  people  Yeshl  disap- 
peared and  went  to  his  home  in  the  far  east. 

The  Thlinkits  have  many  other  gods  and  spirits,  and  the  phenomena 
of  nature  —  the  Northern  lights  and  comets  and  meteors  —  have  their 
superstitious  explanations,  as  interpreted  by  the  shamans.  They 
have  also  a  legend  of  the  flood  where  a  great  ship  stranded  on  a  sub- 
merged log  and  broke  in  two;  those  remaining  in  one  half  being 
Thlinkit  and  the  others  drifting  away  becoming  the  people  of  other 
nations. 

One  of  the  last  of  the  native  chiefs  was  named  Klo  Kutz,  a  man  of 
determined  character  and  strong  will.  His  people  believed  that  he 
bore  a  charmed  life.  He  was  friendly  to  the  new  comers  and  when 
Professor  George  Davidson  went  to  the  head  of  Lynn  Canal  in  1869 
to  observe  the  eclipse  of  the  sun  he  entertained  his  party  and  rendered 
him  great  assistance.  The  natives,  who  had  not  believed  the  profes- 
sor's prediction,  were  terribly  alarmed  when  it  came  true.  They  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  a  wizard  and  ran  away  from  him  as  fast 
as  they  could  go.  Unfortunately,  contact  with  immoral  white  men  and 
drunkenness  and  disease  has  brought  about  the  decadence  of  this  tribe 
which  was  recognized  by  early  visitors  as  among  the  finest  of  all  In- 
dians. In  less  than  forty  years  they  have  been  reduced  from  thousands 
to  hundreds.  Pneumonia,  the  grip  and  measles  have  always  been  pe- 
culiarly fatal  to  savages. 

Skagway,  or  more  properly  Skaguay,  said  to  mean  "  the  Home  of 
the  North  Wind,"  is  the  terminus  of  the  Inside  Passage  and,  like  the 
other  large  Alaskan  towns,  excepting  Nome,  challenges  admiration  for 
its  beauty  of  situation.  It  is  surrounded  by  an  amphitheater  of  lofty 
mountains.  It  is  reached  by  Taiya  Inlet,  another  of  the  marvellous 
mountain-guarded  waterways,  offering  continually  changing  views  of 
snowy  peaks,  glittering  glaciers,  and  numberless  cascades.  Skaguay 
lies  at  the  mouth  of  the  Skaguay  River,  which  after  its  swift  descent 
from  the  highlands  flows  winding  through  meadowlike  flats  and  emp- 
ties into  the  inlet.  The  present  permanent  population  of  the  town  is 


128  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

upwards  of  a  thousand,  dwelling  in  comfortable  houses  lighted  with 
electricity  and  surrounded  with  rival  flower  gardens. 

General  Greely  speaking  of  Skaguay,  "  the  best-known  town  of 
Alaska, ' '  says :  ' '  It  will  live  in  history  as  the  base  of  operations  for 
thousands  of  adventurous  prospectors  during  the  Klondike  excitement 
of  1897-1898.  Skaguay  is  a  pleasant  base  for  excursions  for  the  lover 
of  the  picturesque,  the  admirer  of  scenery,  the  student  of  natural  his- 
tory or  ethnographical  subjects.  Eeasonably  near  are  the  Ohilkat  and 
Chilkoot  villages,  with  their  native  hats,  baskets,  and  blankets.  Over 
the  White  Pass,  by  rail,  through  scenery  of  beauty  and  grandeur,  and 
along  the  way  once  marked  by  scenes  of  human  misery  and  courage, 
one  reached  in  a  few  hours  the  lake  sources  of  the  Yukon.  Near  by 
are  also  the  glaciers  of  Davidson,  Mendenhall,  and  others,  which  will 
richly  repay  a  visit.  Along  the  foaming  rapids  of  the  Skaguay  River, 
with  its  flowery  banks,  or  up  the  winding  paths  to  the  mountain  for- 
ests, the  flowery  glades,  and  sylvan  lakes,  there  is  surprise  upon  sur- 
prise at  the  delights  and  beauties  that  hourly  break  in  on  one,  while 
wandering  in  the  delicious  summer  weather  of  the  Alaskan  wonder- 
land. " 

Only  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  during  the  great  Klondike  excitement, 
it  was  a  city  of  tents.  From  here  the  trail  ran  through  to  the  mining 
regions  of  the  upper  Yukon  and  the  Klondike.  In  the  grim  story  of 
the  Greed  for  Gold  the  chapter  devoted  to  the  founding  of  Skaguay 
is  perhaps  the  fullest  of  exciting  incidents  and  many  a  paragraph  would 
have  to  be  devoted  to  the  depredation  of  1 1  Soapy  ' '  Smith  and  his  band 
of  outlaws  who  murdered  and  robbed  the  unfortunate  prospector  who 
had  been  spotted  in  advance. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE    MIGHTY  YUKON. 

SKAGUAY  is  the  terminus  of  the  White  Pass  and  Yukon  Railway, 
which  was  begun  in  May,  1898,  and  finished  in  January,  1900. 
The  possibilities  of  the  route  were  foreseen  by  M.  J.  Heney,  but 
he  could  not  interest  American  capital,  so  he  went  to  England  and  there 
succeeded  in  raising  the  money  needed.  The  first  twenty  miles  from 
Skaguay,  constructed  over  tremendous  precipices,  so  steep  that  men 
working  had  to  be  suspended  from  above  on  ropes,  and  blasting  away 
colossal  cliffs,  cost  an  average  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  mile. 
All  the  materials  had  to  be  brought  from  Seattle  at  enormous  expense. 
Thirty-five  hundred  men  were  employed  in  its  construction,  and  in  spite 
of  the  rigors  of  the  mountain  climate  only  thirty  died  from  accident 
or  disease.  At  one  time,  however,  the  report  of  the  rich  gold-strike 
having  arrived,  fifteen  hundred  of  the  men  drew  their  pay  and  deserted. 
In  the  one  hundred  and  eleven  miles  to  White  Horse  the  road  passes 
through  only  one  tunnel,  although  it  climbs  to  such  giddy  heights  above 
the  valley  that  the  trees  along  the  foaming  stream  look  like  bushes. 
There  is  a  steel  cantilever  bridge  which  is  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
feet  high.  Twenty  miles  up  from  Skaguay  is  the  summit  of  the  pass 
and  here  the  Canadian  and  American  boundaries  meet  with  all  the 
attendant  annoyances  of  customs  inspection.  The  little  pond  that 
flashes  sapphire  near  the  station,  perhaps  four  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea,  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  sources  of  the  mighty  Yukon.  The 
train  passes  several  of  these  storage  lakes;  first,  Lake  Lindemann, 
which  is  seven  miles  long  and  half  a  mile  wide,  connected  by  a  brawling 
stream  three-quarters  of  a  mile  long  and  perhaps  a  hundred  feet  wide, 
with  Lake  Bennett,  which  is  twenty-seven  miles  long,  though  not  more 

129 


130  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

than  two  miles  wide,  and  the  mountains  across  are  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
a  mile  high.  They  are  of  almost  solid  iron  and  give  a  peculiar  rose 
color  to  the  distance. 

At  Caribou  Crossing  one  is  told  great  stories  of  the  days  when 
droves  of  thousands  of  caribou  passed  here  on  their  way  to  their  feed- 
ing-ground through  the  hills  and  valleys  of  the  Stewart,  Klondike,  and 
other  rivers.  The  herd  has  been  known  to  take  ninety  days  at  the  rate 
of  a  thousand  a  day,  sometimes  even  more,  so  that  their  track  was 
five  miles  in  width.  Packs  of  wolves  hung  on  their  skirts  and  quickly 
despatched  such  as  were  lamed  or  weak.  In  many  cases  they  proved 
the  salvation  of  half-starving  miners.  The  Crossing  is  now  a  lonely, 
desolate  hamlet,  where  in  the  old  days  there  must  have  been  more 
activity  than  now,  though  there  is  some  traffic  by  boat  with  the  Atlin 
mining  district  which  is  reached  by  a  chain  of  beautiful  lakes  set  like 
jewels  in  the  mountains.  The  saw-mill  at  the  head  of  Lake  Bennett 
used  to  furnish  boards  for  this  river  traffic  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred 
dollars  a  thousand  feet. 

The  traveller  has  a  chance  during  the  trip  to  see  the  great  canon 
which  was  one  of  the  passages  most  dreaded  by  the  early  Klondike 
gold-questers.  The  sides  are  perpendicular  walls  of  dark  basalt,  rising 
one  or  two  hundred  feet,  and  crowned  with  sombre  spruces  that  climb 
the  mountain's  sides.  In  five-eighths  of  a  mile  the  river  drops  thirty 
feet,  rushing  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour  between  huge  gray 
boulders  which  dash  the  foam  in  huge  sheets  and  whirlpools. 

Before  reaching  White  Horse,  rapids  no  less  dangerous  and  treach- 
erous are  also  exhibited  to  the  admiring  tourist. 

All  along  the  railway  there  are  pleasant  and  successful  looking  set- 
tlements where  immigrants  have  started  homes  supported  by  hunting, 
fishing  and  farming.  The  summer,  though  short,  allows  the  growth 
of  many  vegetables  and  a  marvellous  growth  of  rich  and  succulent 
grass. 

White  Horse  is  a  new  town,  built  principally  of  wood,  housing  fif- 
teen hundred  or  more  inhabitants,  most  of  whom  are  prosperous,  and 


THE    MIGHTY    YUKON.  133 

see  to  it  that  the  town  is  kept  in  perfect  order.    In  the  vicinity  are  rich 
copper  mines  which  the  railway  renders  available. 

Steamboats  leave  White  Horse  for  Dawson  three  times  a  week  in 
summer,  the  trip  taking  two  days.  The  distance  is  three  hundred  and 
fifty  miles.  After  river  navigation  is  closed  six-horse  stages  or  four- 
horse  sleighs  make  the  trip  in  six  days.  As  in  all  rivers,  at  least  in 
their  upper  reaches,  the  channel  shifts  from  side  to  side,  and  there 
are  many  changing  sandbars  where  a  boat  is  likely  to  go  aground.  The 
Lewes-Yukon  flows  through  Lake  Kluk-tassi  or  Lebarge,  famous  for 
its  grayling  and  whitefish.  This  is  thirty-two  miles  long  and  three  and 
a  half  miles  wide,  with  gray  cliffs  and  columns  of  red  rocks,  adorned 
with  a  single  island.  The  sweeping  slopes  are  heavily  wooded.  Shortly 
after  leaving  the  lake  the  banks  of  the  river  contract  to  less  than  five 
hundred  feet  and  the  stream  pours  swiftly  among  five  huge  columns 
of  stone,  giving  the  rapids  its  name  of  "  the  Five  Fingers." 

The  Pelley  River,  rising  in  the  Pelley  Mountains,  is  joined  at  the 
old  Hudson  Bay  station  of  Selkirk  by  the  Lewes,  which  drains  a  num- 
ber of  lakes,  both  of  them  being  frequently  reinforced  by  affluents 
draining  other  valleys,  and  there  form  the  Yukon,  which,  after  flowing 
twenty-three  hundred  miles,  empties  into  Bering  Sea  in  the  far  and 
frozen  north.  Any  one  interested  in  Alaska  should  certainly  read 
Schwatka's  account  of  his  famous  descent  of  this,  the  fourth  largest 
river  on  the  continent.  At  Selkirk  the  great  river  cuts  through  the 
mountains  and  offers  the  most  magnificent  scenery  for  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles. 

Dawson  is  the  capital  of  the  Yukon  territory,  and  being  the  financial 
and  social  centre  of  the  Klondike  region  has  attained  eminence  as  a 
city.  It  has  enormous  storehouses  for  the  transportation  companies; 
it  has  banks  and  clubs,  churches  and  library,  hospitals  and  newspapers ; 
good  water  works,  but  as  yet  poor  sewerage.  The  city  extends  for 
about  a  mile  along  the  river  and  is  built  back  to  the  hill.  The  streets 
are  wide  and  well  cared  for.  Frame  or  log  houses  prevail,  the  uncer- 
tainty of  foundation  on  frozen  soil  being  adverse  either  to  brick  or 


134  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

plastered  houses.  Many  of  the  roofs  are  covered  with  soil  to  a  con- 
siderable depth  and  in  summer  these  are  gay  with  greenery  or  with 
brilliant  flowers.  A  visitor  in  August  is  likely  to  be  amazed  at  the 
display  of  vines  and  blooms,  making  the  whole  town  seem  like  one 
great  flower  garden  sloping  up  toward  the  hills.  The  public  school- 
house  cost  fifty  thousand  dollars;  the  governor's  mansion,  which  was 
built  of  British  Columbia  fir  and  most  luxuriantly  furnished,  was  des- 
troyed by  fire  in  1907.  The  governor's  private  office  is  now  in  the 
great  administration  building  which  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  small 
park.  The  place  is  rather  strictly  governed,  order  being  maintained 
for  the  ten  thousand  inhabitants  by  the  famous  Northwest  Mounted 
Police. 

From  Dawson  one  can  make  excursions,  perhaps  by  automobile,  to 
the  Golconda  which  served  to  create  this  metropolis  in  the  midst  of 
the  frozen  wilderness.  The  rich  placers  along  the  little  streams  that 
helped  to  feed  the  upper  Yukon,  typified  by  the  Klondike,  or  Tron- 
Dieuck,  which  has  given  its  name  to  the  whole  district  and  almost 
eclipsed  Alaska  itself,  were  speedily  exhausted  and  had  not  expensive 
systems  of  hydraulic  mining  been  introduced  by  the  syndicates  and 
combined  companies,  Dawson  would  have  been  deserted  like  so  many 
other  mushroom  towns. 

George  Carmack,  with  two  Indian  brothers  of  his  wife,  was  one 
day  in  August,  1896,  fishing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Klondike  River. 
They  struck  Bonanza  Creek,  and  on  prospecting  washed  out  twelve 
dollars  from  their  first  pan.  They  immediately  staked  claims.  On 
the  site  of  Dawson  they  built  a  raft  and  floated  down  the  river  to 
Forty  Mile  Creek  to  file  their  claim.  The  first  year  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars  were  taken  out.  The  yield  in  1900  had  risen  to  twenty- 
two  million  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand;  since  then  it  has 
been  steadily  diminishing. 

The  traveller  with  plenty  of  time  may  take  steamship  at  Dawson 
for  the  great  trip  down  the  Yukon  to  its  mouth.  Forty-Mile,  which 
should  have  borne  its  native  name  of  Chetondeg,  was  the  first  mining 


THE    MIGHTY    YUKON.  135 

camp  on  the  Yukon.    It  even  boasted  of  an  opera  house,  but  the  Klon- 
dike strike  depopulated  it.    It  has  still  some  importance  as  the  mining 
interests  in  the  neighborhood  are  dependent  on  it  for  supplies.    The 
source  of  the  mighty  Tanana  Eiver,  the  greatest  tributary  of  the  Yukon, 
having  been  navigated  by  steamboat  for  seven  hundred  miles,  is  not 
far  away  from  the  source  of  Forty-Mile.    Fifty  miles  farther  down 
the  river,  at  the  junction  of  the  now  famous  Mission,  is  Eagle,  the 
first  town  in  Alaska  proper.    It  has  a  population  of  several  hundred 
people  and  is  likely  to  grow  in  importance  as  soon  as  it  is  connected 
by  railway,  as  it  is  now  by  telegraph,  with  Valdez,  at  the  head  of 
Prince  William  Sound.    Companies  of  American  soldiers  are  generally 
stationed  at  Fort  Egbert  and  the  presence  of  the  officers  and  their 
wives  gives  the  place  a  pleasant  society.    Although  it  is  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  Arctic  Circle,  and  more  than  three  hundred  miles  from 
the  coast,  the  inhabitants  point  with  pride  to  their  native  vegetables, 
which  attain  great  luxuriance  by  having  the  sun  all  day  and  all  night 
during  the  short  summer.    Here  one  might  if  one  pleased  leave  the 
steamship  and  return  to  the  coast  by  the  government  trail,  following 
the  telegraph  posts  and  crossing  the  wonderful  Chugatch  mountains- 
Circle  City,  so  named  because  of  its  proximity  to  the  Arctic  Circle,, 
is  hardly  a  city  now,  though  before  the  Klondike  days  the  discovery- 
of  gold  on  Birch  Creek,  a  few  miles  away,  attracted  more  than  a  thou- 
sand miners.    The  most  northerly  point  on  the  Yukon  is  at  Port  Yukon, 
established  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  in  1847,  first  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Porcupine  River,  which  is  navigable  for  light  draft  steam-boats 
for  one  hundred  miles.    It  used  to  take  two  years  to  reach  this  place 
from  York  Factory  on  Hudson  Bay,  four  thousand  miles  to  the  east. 
It  was  formerly  a  great  centre  for  the  fur  trade  among  the  Indians, 
but  as  that  trade  diminished  there  was  nothing  to  keep  it  alive  and 
now  what  is  of  chief  interest  is  the  lonely  graveyard,  said  to  be  the 
only  one  in  the  Arctic  Circle. 

The  river  below  Dawson  is  often  called  the  Upper  Kamparts  and 
here  is  the  finest  scenery  in  Alaska,  the  stream  being  half  a  mile  wide 


136  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

and  flowing  between  lofty  banks.  Then  for  two  hundred  miles  it  winds 
through  "  the  Flats,"  sometimes  there  dividing  into  several  channels 
with  sluggish  current  and  offering  great  obstacles  to  the  pilots  from 
the  shifting  bars.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  islands  thus  formed 
are  as  many  as  ten  thousand  in  number  and  many  of  these  are  covered 
with  a  dense  growth  of  cottonwood,  birch  and  spruce  trees.  The  valley 
widens  out  into  a  comparatively  level  plain,  in  some  places  a  hundred 
miles  from  escarpment  to  escarpment.  Many  travellers  are  wearied 
by  the  monotony,  but  others  find  a  great  charm  in  the  wide  spaces  and 
the  silence,  the  distant  views  of  cloudlike  mountains,  occasional  glimpses 
of  Indian  or  Eskimo  settlements  as  the  steamship  approaches  the  shore. 

The  third  great  division  of  the  river  is  also  called  the  Ramparts. 
Here  it  again  contracts  into  a  narrow  swift  current,  in  some  places 
shooting  down  at  an  incline  of  more  than  twenty  feet  to  the  mile.  The 
town  of  Eampart,  founded  by  Captain  Mayo  in  1873,  was  formerly  the 
headquarters  of  the  Third  Judicial  District  of  Alaska;  it  has  lost  some 
of  its  importance  but  has  a  charm  all  its  own.  On  the  bluff  runs  the 
long  winding  street  with  log  houses  having  the  characteristic  earth- 
and-flower  covered  roofs.  It  has  a  population  of  about  four  hundred 
and  is  the  centre  of  trade  for  the  Minook  mining  regions,  which  in  1906 
produced  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  lying  toward  the 
south.  On  the  other  side  of  the  river  and  half  a  mile  away  the  Gov- 
ernment maintains  a  successful  agricultural  station  which  has  proved 
that  grain  can  ripen  there  year  after  year,  while  potatoes,  cabbages, 
peas  and  other  vegetables  thrive  wonderfully.  Though  the  winter  tem- 
perature sometimes  reaches  seventy  degrees  below  zero  the  climate  is 
not  so  severe  as  in  Minnesota  because  blizzards  are  unknown. 

Within  a  day's  sail  of  Rampart,  down  at  the  junction  of  the  great 
River  Tanana  is  the  town  of  Tanana,  sometimes  called  Weare.  It  is 
regarded  as  the  most  beautiful  place  on  the  Yukon,  being  situated  on 
a  high  intervale  with  a  magnificent  view  of  wide  spreading  waters. 
Cities  at  the  junction  of  great  rivers  have  always  a  peculiarly  inspiring 
charm.  Tanana  has  wide  streets  and  the  log  houses,  all  adorned  with 


THE    MIGHTY    YUKON.  137 

summer  blooms,  are  set  far  back  embowered  in  lovely  colors.  Adjoin- 
ing Tanana  is  Fort  Gibson,  established  in  1900.  It  is  garrisoned  by 
two  companies  of  United  States  Infantry  and  a  company  of  the  Signal 
Corps.  It  would  be  no  exile  for  a  man  to  be  stationed  there  even  in 
winter,  for  the  long  nights  are  made  gay  by  all  sorts  of  athletic  sports 
and  the  summers  are  a  dream  of  delight  —  a  clear  sparkling  atmos- 
phere perfumed  with  myriads  of  roses. 

From  Tanana  one  may  make  a  side  excursion  up  the  Tanana  River 
to  the  fine  new  town  of  Fairbanks,  which  is  one  of  the  largest  centres 
of  population  in  Alaska.  In  1898  Mr.  Alfred  H.  Brooks,  one  of  the 
ablest  attaches  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  predicted  that 
gold  would  be  found  in  the  valley  of  this  great  river.  Four  years  later 
Felix  Pedro,  following  the  indications,  made  the  first  discovery  and 
by  the  autumn  of  the  next  year  eight  hundred  men  were  staking  claims 
in  the  various  streams  that  are  tributary  to  it.  The  district  and  prin- 
cipal camp  were  named  Fairbanks,  after  the  Vice  President  of  the 
United  States.  By  1906  the  output  of  gold  had  reached  more  than  nine 
millions ;  its  trade  alone  in  1907  had  attained  a  volume  of  more  than 
two  millions,  and  that  year  a  disastrous  strike  occurred.  It  was  at- 
tended with  great  violence  and  put  a  temporary  end  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  place. 

The  town  of  Chena,  although  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Chena 
and  the  Tanana,  at  the  head  of  navigation  for  large  steamships,  has 
not  kept  pace  with  Fairbanks  for  the  reason  that  it  is  eight  or  nine 
miles  farther  away  from  the  gold-producing  creeks. 

The  river  is  open  generally  for  five  months  —  from  about  the  middle 
of  May  until  the  middle  of  October.  From  Chena  one  can  go  to  Fair- 
banks by  the  Tanana  Valley  Railway;  this  also  connects  with  the 
principal  mines.  A  railway,  possibly  two,  will  soon  connect  it  with 
the  coast.  Even  now  one  can  ride  comfortably  in  summer,  at  least 
from  Fairbanks  to  Valdez,  in  a  little  more  than  a  week.  That  the  rail- 
road is  needed  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  over  the  forty-five  miles  al- 
ready constructed  as  many  as  fifty  thousand  passengers  are  carried  in 


138  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

a  single  season,  while  the  freight  transported  amounts  to  fifteen  thou- 
sand tons  at  a  present  cost  of  fifty-eight  cents  a  ton  per  mile.  When 
the  material  for  the  railway  was  first  brought  —  some  of  it  from  a 
distance  of  six  thousand  miles  —  the  local  freight  rate  was  nearly  six 
times  as  much. 

Fairbanks  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  North.  It  is  a  well-built  town 
with  a  permanent  population  of  upwards  of  four  thousand.  The  town 
is  lighted  by  electricity,  a  central  steam  plant  heats  the  business  section 
and  many  private  houses.  An  excellent  telephone  service  extends  not 
only  throughout  the  city,  but  also  into  seven  adjacent  towns  and  even 
to  the  mines  in  the  neighboring  valleys.  There  is  a  full  water  supply, 
enabling  the  fire  district  to  boast  of  fifteen  or  more  streams  at  one 
hundred  and  forty  pounds  pressure.  There  are  three  banks,  each  main- 
taining an  expert  assayer.  Opposite  the  city,  on  Garden  Island,  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  river,  and  connected  by  two  substantial  bridges, 
are  situated  five  large  saw  mills  which  exploit  the  native  timber,  which 
consists  of  poplar,  spruce,  hemlock  and  birch,  rafted  down  from  the 
upper  reaches  of  the  river.  Here  also  are  the  foundries  and  the  ter- 
minals of  the  railway. 

There  are  twelve  hotels,  two  daily  papers,  printed  on  cylinder 
presses,  a  weekly  and  a  quarterly,  two  generously  managed  hospitals, 
and  five  churches,  a  large  theater,  clubs  and  other  adjuncts  to  instruc- 
tion and  amusement.  The  four-year  course  at  the  Fairbanks  high 
school  admits  to  Washington  State  University  by  certificate. 

Within  a  few  miles  of  Fairbanks  more  than  thirty  thousand  acres 
of  productive  land  have  been  preempted  according  to  the  United  States 
homestead  laws  and  the  productiveness  of  the  soil  is  amazing  to  all 
visitors.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  region  round  the  Hot  Springs 
in  the  lower  valley  of  the  Tanana,  where  all  sorts  of  delicious  vegetables 
are  raised  and  the  hay  crop  is  enormous.  The  town  is  governed  by  a 
council  of  seven  members  and  a  courtesy  mayor.  The  finances  are 
provided  by  various  forms  of  taxation  and  assessment,  and  in  1906 
the  budget  amounted  to  almost  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  which 


THE    MIGHTY    YUKON.  139 

supports  the  fire  department,  the  police,  the  streets  and  the  hos- 
pitals. 

During  the  last  long  reaches  of  the  Yukon  through  low-lying  plains 
the  principal  town  to  interest  the  traveller  is  Nulato,  of  tragic  memory. 
It  is  about  three  hundred  miles  below  Tanana.  Here  occurred  bloody 
encounters  with  savage  natives  and  more  than  once  the  fortification 
there  was  destroyed  and  all  its  garrison  murdered. 

Nulato  is  within  the  United  States  Eeindeer  Reserve  and  is  one  of 
the  headquarters  for  the  herd.  These  are  the  result  of  the  application 
made  by  the  Jesuit  director  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Mission,  who,  in 
1899,  wrote  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  assuring  him  that  there  was  plenty 
of  deer  moss  within  sixty  miles  of  that  place. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

KEINDEER  AND   ESKIMOS. 

THE  story  of  the  introduction  of  the  reindeer  into  Alaska  is  most 
interesting.  They  have  long  been  comparatively  abundant  on 
the  other  side  of  Bering  Strait  but  had  never  been  brought  to 
Alaska,  nor  had  any  serious  attempt  ever  been  made  to  domesticate 
the  caribou.  On  the  Asian  continent  his  value  had  long  been  recog- 
nized. Like  the  banyan  tree  of  the  Tropics  this  product  of  the  North 
is  useful  in  every  part  to  the  native.  His  flesh  is  nutritious  and  espe- 
cially rich  in  carbon.  The  milk  is  used  for  drinking  and  for  cheese ;  the 
horns  are  utilized  for  making  knife  handles,  or  when  scraped  for  form- 
ing ammonia ;  the  skins  are  invaluable  for  clothing  and  for  boots ;  even 
the  entrails  are  valuable.  The  animals  feed  on  the  moss  of  the  tundra 
which  has  been  repeatedly  pointed  out  as  sufficient  to  support  ten  mil- 
lions of  them;  they  find  it  for  themselves,  scratching  up  the  snow 
with  their  sharp  hoofs.  They  require  no  grass,  hay  or  grain.  As  car- 
riers across  the  snow  they  are  far  superior  to  the  Eskimo  or  malamute 
dogs,  and  more  reliable,  a  team  often  being  able  to  make  one  hundred 
miles  a  day. 

Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  Commissioner  of  Education  for  Alaska,  con- 
ceived the  plan  of  importing  a  sufficient  number  of  these  reindeer  from 
Siberia,  together  with  a  number  of  Laplanders,  Finns  and  Norwegians 
who  were  acquainted  with  their  habits  and  management,  so  as  to  train 
the  native  Eskimo  in  the  use  of  the  animals.  It  was  felt  by  him  that 
as  the  native  population  was  becoming  more  and  more  desperate  owing 
to  diminution  of  their  natural  food  supply  something  should  be  done 
to  support  the  unfortunates.  With  great  difficulty  he  prevailed  upon 

140 


REINDEER    AND    ESKIMOS.  141 

Congress  to  appropriate  a  fund  for  this  purpose.  His  plan  was  to 
introduce  at  each  of  the  thirty-nine  schools  scattered  through  the  frozen 
north,  from  the  Yukon  to  the  end  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  a  nucleus 
of  a  herd  which  should  be  under  the  care  of  reliable  natives  selected 
by  the  teachers.  He  assured  the  Government  that ' '  reindeer  entrusted 
to  the  ordinary  individual  savage  would  disappear  within  a  twelve- 
month after  they  had  been  given  to  him."  So  he  inaugurated  the  pol- 
icy of  lending  small  herds  to  missionary  societies,  the  Government 
reserving  the  right,  after  a  term  of  not  less  than  three  years,  to  call 
upon  the  mission  station  for  the  same  number  of  deer  that  composed 
the  herd  leased,  being  regarded  as  ' '  in  the  nature  of  an  outfit  of  indus- 
trial apparatus."  Knowing  the  natural  increase  of  the  reindeer  he 
predicted  that  a  herd  of  five  hundred  ought  to  furnish  an  increase  of 
two  hundred  each  spring.  In  1891  sixteen  head  of  reindeer  were  intro- 
duced as  an  experiment;  by  natural  increase  and  by  the  accretion  of 
others  imported  from  Siberia,  in  two  years  the  number  had  risen  to 
fourteen  hundred  and  sixty-six.  The  next  year  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  were  imported  from  Siberia,  and  in  spite  of  some  losses  by  the 
next  year  they  had  increased  to  more  than  two  thousand.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  the  herds  are  estimated  to  amount  to  more  than  ten  times 
that  number,  some  under  Federal  control,  others  loaned  to  missions 
for  the  purposes  of  industrial  training,  and  still  others  kept  at  special 
stations  for  emergency  purposes. 

How  useful  they  may  be  in  such  circumstances  is  well  shown  by  a 
report  made  to  the  Government  by  the  Honorable  John  G.  Brady,  the 
former  missionary  Governor  of  Alaska,  in  1899.  After  showing  how 
unjust  many  persons  and  even  newspapers  had  been  in  reviling  the 
chief  promoter  of  the  scheme,  and  calling  it  a  fad,  he  goes  on  to  say: 

"  The  purchase  of  several  hundred  of  these  animals  in  Norway  and 
Lapland  and  their  shipment  across  the  Atlantic  and  the  continent  and 
by  steamship  again  from  Seattle  to  Haines  Mission,  and  the  dying  of 
a  large  proportion  of  them  at  that  point,  and  all  the  subsequent  evils, 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  problems  of  the  introduction  of  domestic 


142  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

reindeer  into  western  and  northern  Alaska  for  the  use  of  the  Eskimos. 
When  editors  and  writers  raise  the  cry  of  *  failure  '  and  *  fad  '  they 
simply  show  that  they  are  not  acquainted  with  the  facts,  or,  if  they 
are,  that  they  are  prejudiced  and  are  not  willing  to  stick  to  the  truth. 

* '  At  the  very  time  the  cry  of  starvation  was  raised  in  the  newspapers 
concerning  the  miners  on  the  Klondike,  another  cry  went  up  that  a 
large  number  of  whalers  at  Point  Barrow  were  caught  in  the  ice  and 
unless  they  got  relief  many  would  starve  to  death  before  spring.  Ac- 
cordingly the  revenue  cutter  Bear  was  outfitted  and  sent  to  give  relief. 
She  landed  a  party  of  three  officers  —  Lieutenants  Jarvis  and  Berthoff 
and  Dr.  Call.  Under  conditions  that  try  men's  souls,  they  made  their 
way  from  the  spot  where  they  were  landed  at  Cape  Vancouver,  a  long 
distance  south  of  the  Yukon  River,  around  the  margin  of  the  coast,  till 
they  came  to  the  missionary  reindeer  station  at  Port  Clarence.  Here 
Mr.  W.  T.  Lopp  and  the  native  Eskimo,  Antisarlook,  at  the  earnest 
entreaty  of  Lieutenant  Jarvis,  turned  over  their  herds  of  reindeer  to 
him,  amounting  in  all  to  four  hundred  and  thirty-seven  animals,  and 
the  natives  not  only  parted  with  their  animals,  but  volunteered  to  go 
with  Lieutenant  Jarvis  to  drive  them  to  Point  Barrow. 

"  After  several  fearful  weeks  they  reached  that  station  and  gave 
immediate  relief  to  those  hungry  men  and  kept  them  alive  until  the 
icepack  broke  up.  About  a  hundred  of  these  animals  had  to  be  slaugh- 
tered. Surely  there  was  no  '  fad  '  about  reindeer  at  this  point.  The 
food  they  afforded  kept  two  hundred  souls  alive.  Who  has  ever  seen 
a  single  notice  of  this  event  to  the  credit  of  the  reindeer,  the  missionary 
or  the  native?  Attention  was  called  last  year  to  the  heroism  of  the 
above-mentioned  officers.  It  will  surely  compare  well  with  any  act 
of  bravery  that  has  occurred  within  recent  years,  and  we  think  thati 
Congress  should  not  allow  another  session  to  pass  without  giving  them 
due  recognition." 

Congress  ultimately  granted  Lieutenant  Jarvis  a  medal  for  gallant 
conduct. 

The  imported  Lapps  and  such  natives  as  took  hold  of  the  industry 


the  \ 
in-/ 


REINDEER    AND    ESKIMOS.  143 

have  prospered  to  such  an  extent  that  some  of  them  have  accumulated 
herds  of  more  than  a  hundred,  and  one  woman,  Mary  An-dre-wuk, 
known  as  the  Eeindeer  Queen,  had  in  1905  more  than  three  hundred. 
The  advantage  to  the  natives  in  inspiring  in  them  self-respect  and  a 
sense  of  independence  justified  the  experiment  even  had  it  not  proved 
successful  in  other  respects.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  reindeer 
moss  was  recommended  as  a  suitable  food  for  human  beings  by  an 
edict  of  Gustavus  III  of  Sweden.  The  taste  of  it  is  slightly  pungent 
or  acrid,  but  rather  agreeable.  The  reindeer  require  no  attention: 
they  find  their  own  food,  scraping  it  up  from  beneath  the  snow  with 
their  sharp,  hoofs.  They  do  not  thrive  on  grass,  hay  or  grain,  though 
in  summer  they  like  grass.  An  interesting  book  might  be  written  on 
the  experiences  of  those  who  drove  bargains  with  the  native  tribes  of 
Siberia  for  reindeer.  They  had  pretty  exciting  times.  Finally  the 
Eussian  Government  forbade  their  exportation  but  not  before  the 
dustry  was  well  established. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  coast  mountains  the  Yukon  might  have  en- 
tered Norton  Sound  after  a  straight  course  of  less  than  a  hundred 
miles  from  Nulato ;  instead  it  skirts  these  mountains,  which  are  prob- 
ably packed  with  gold,  and  flows  almost  directly  south,  part  of  the  way 
running  parallel  to  the  great  Kuskokwim,  and  then  turning  north,  de- 
bouches into  Bering  Sea  by  at  least  seven  mouths.  The  delta  is  about 
a  hundred  miles  wide  and  the  immense  quantity  of  river  water  pouring 
out  into  the  sea  makes  it  shallow  and  fresh  for  a  long  distance.  The* 
whole  region  where  it  ends  its  course  is  densely  infested  with  the  blood- 
thirstiest  mosquitoes  in  the  world.  A  sufferer  from  their  torments 
writes  thus  feelingly :  ' l  Breeding  here,  as  they  do  in  the  vast  network 
of  slough  and  swamp,  they  are  able  to  rally  round  and  to  infest  the 
wake  and  progress  of  the  explorer  beyond  all  adequate  description, 
and  language  is  unable  to  portray  the  misery  and  annoyance  accom- 
panying their  presence.  It  will  naturally  be  asked  how  do  the  natives 
bear  this?  They  too  are  annoyed  and  suffer,  but  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  their  bodies  are  anointed  with  rancid  oil  and  certain  am- 


144  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

moniacal  vapors,  peculiar  to  their  garments  from  constant  wear,  have 
a  repellent  power  which  even  the  mosquitoes,  blood-thirsty  as  they 
are,  are  hardly  equal  to  meet.  .  .  . 

* '  The  traveller  who  exposes  his  bare  eyes  or  face  here  loses  his  nat- 
ural appearance ;  his  eyelids  swell  up  and  close,  and  his  face  becomes 
one  mass  of  lumps  and  fiery  pimples.  Mosquitoes  torture  the  Indian 
dogs  to  death,  especially  if  one  of  these  animals,  by  mange  or  other- 
wise, loses  an  inconsiderable  portion  of  its  thick  hairy  covering,  and 
even  drive  the  bear  and  deer  into  the  water." 

This  is  the  barren  region  of  the  Coast  Eskimos,  who,  living  apart 
from  the  whites,  have  been  able  to  preserve  better  their  integrity  than 
those  nearer  the  settlements. 

The  Eskimo  or  Innuit  are  among  the  most  interesting  people  of 
Alaska,  forming  about  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  whole  native  population. 
According  to  the  census  of  1890  there  were  about  fourteen  thousand 
of  them,  mostly  settled  permanently  along  the  coast  of  the  Bering  Sea, 
and  very  few,  less  than  one-fifth,  within  the  Arctic  Circle.  They  are 
by  nature  "  peaceful  and  docile,  trustful  and  generous."  General 
Greely  believes  that  they  are  gradually  disappearing  before  the  ad- 
vance of  the  white  men,  whose  treatment  of  them,  as  of  all  the  native 
races,  he  calls  *  *  disgraceful  to  a  nation  claiming  to  be  civilized,  human- 
itarian or  Christian. ' '  He  says : 

"  In  general,  contact  with  the  white  man  has  steadily  tended  to 
degeneration  among  the  four  principal  tribes  of  Alaska,  though  at 
times  there  have  been  spasmodic  and  usually  fruitless  efforts  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  to  correct  the  most  flagrant  and  degrading 
violations  of  personal  rights  and  public  decency.  ...  In  a  journey 
of  over  two  thousand  miles  through  Alaska,  the  writer  discussed  the 
situation  with  a  dozen  or  more  missionaries  at  nine  separate  stations 
and  representing  six  religious  bodies.  Every  one  answered  in  the  neg- 
ative when  asked  if  the  natives  had  improved  in  honesty,  the  men  in 
industry,  the  women  in  chastity,  and  the  youth  in  promise  of  higher 
morality. 


REINDEER    AND    ESKIMOS.  145 

11  In  mining  towns  and  camps  the  saloon  and  dance-house,  which 
foster  in  men  indulgence  in  liquor  and  offer  to  young  girls  the  allure- 
ments of  finery  and  a  life  of  apparent  ease,  are  factors  potent  in  de- 
generation and  so  attractive  in  appearance  that  only  few  natives  with- 
stand them.  At  remote  points  traders,  fishermen  and  whalers  have  been 
only  too  often  guilty  of  gross  misconduct  destructive  of  the  moral  char- 
acter and  physical  health  of  the  unfortunate  native. ' ' 

General  Greely  thinks  that  the  Eskimos  have  suffered  more  than 
any  other  Alaskan  race  by  contact  with  the  white  man:  "  Vitally 
changed  conditions  of  life  have  seriously  affected  the  Eskimo,  who 
find  their  means  of  subsistence  largely  destroyed,  their  habitat  in- 
vaded, and  new  methods  of  life  forced  upon  them.  Decimated  by 
epidemic  diseases  introduced  by  the  whites,  victims  of  unprincipled 
liquor  dealers,  often  maltreated  by  vicious  traders,  and  exploited  by 
the  unscrupulous,  the  steady  degeneration  of  these  hospitable,  merry- 
hearted  and  simple-minded  people  is  apparently  a  matter  of  time. 
The  introduction  of  the  reindeer,  the  efforts  to  teach  industrial  methods 
and  the  rendering  of  medical  aid  to  the  suffering,  are  the  only  redeem- 
ing and  hopeful  features  of  the  Eskimo  situation  at  present." 

The  origin  of  the  Eskimo  is  a  mooted  question,  the  balance  of  opin- 
ion swaying  to  the  conclusion  that  they  did  not  come  from  Asia  but 
spread  from  the  East.  Their  characteristic  canoe  or  kayak,  called  by 
the  Russians  bidarka,  is  precisely  like  that  used  by  the  Greenland 
Eskimo.  Their  skin  parka,  or  outside  garment,  worn  alike  by  men, 
women  and  children,  is  also  characteristic  of  the  whole  race.  The 
Alaskan  Eskimo  are  divided  into  various  tribes  such  as  the  Kopagmute, 
Nunatagmute,  Mahlemute,  Unaligmute,  and  others,  all  ending  in  mute 
and  having  similar  manners  and  customs.  They  have  no  definitely 
recognized  chief  but  in  each  settlement  generally  one  man,  a  successful 
trader  or  fisherman,  called  the  umalik  or  spokesman,  holds  some  influ- 
ence among  them,  not  comparable,  however,  to  that  of  the  shaman 
who  takes  a  great  part  in  their  festivities  and  stimulates  their  super- 
stitions. They  are  skilful  fishermen  and  hunters.  Fish  they  catch 


146  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

with  hooks  and  nets ;  they  spear  seal  on  the  ice,  their  implements  made 
of  spruce  or  larch  headed  with  stone  or  bone  or  walrus  teeth.  Parties 
of  a  hundred  or  more  natives,  all  in  their  kayaks,  have  been  seen  silently 
and  in  perfect  order  going  out  to  hunt  the  beluga  or  white  whale.  At 
a  signal  given  by  the  leader,  the  kayaks  paddle  to  seaward  of  the  school 
and  yelling  and  shrieking  and  splashing  with  paddles  and  spears, 
frighten  the  belugas  ashore.  In  former  days  they  would  sometimes 
secure  as  many  as  a  hundred  in  a  single  day.  "Wounded  whales  would 
be  kept  afloat  by  means  of  inflated  bladders  made  of  young  sealskins. 

A  feast  would  follow  the  slaughter  of  the  beluga,  the  natives  liking  the 
blubber  and  meat  uncooked,  or  at  least  parboiled,  with  whale  or  seal 
oil  as  a  sauce.  The  skins  they  tan  with  putrefied  fish  roe.  In  summer 
they  do  their  cooking  out  of  doors  and  live  in  log  houses  roofed  with 
skins  and  open  in  front,  without  chimneys.  Their  winter  houses  are 
half  underground  huts,  often  constructed  of  whale  ribs  against  which 
are  piled  logs  of  drift  wood.  Outside  of  this  another  wall  is  built,  either 
of  stones  or  logs,  the  intervals  filled  with  earth  or  rubble;  the  whole 
structure  is  then  covered  with  sods,  leaving  a  small  opening  at  the  top 
which  can  be  closed  by  a  frame  holding  a  thin,  translucent  seal  skin. 
The  entrance  is  a  passage  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  length  which  must  be 
"  negotiated  "  on  hands  and  knees.  Inside  the  entrance  visitor  or 
fresh  air  is  barred  by  a  bear  or  reindeer  skin  curtain.  In  the  centre 
is  the  fireplace,  the  smoke  from  which  is  supposed  to  find  its  way  out 
of  the  roof  aperture,  but  generally  gets  into  the  eyes  of  the  inmates. 
The  floor  may  be  planked  and  the  family  sleep  on  a  sort  of  divan,  cov- 
ered with  mats  and  skins,  which  is  built  along  the  sides.  In  case  two 
families  inhabit  one  house  the  sleeping-places  are  separated  by  mat- 
curtains  or  a  conventional  piece  of  wood,  which  serves  the  imagination 
as  a  barrier. 

Each  village  has  an  assembly  house  called  kashga  which  is  often  as 
much  as  sixty  feet  square  and  twenty  or  thirty  feet  high.  A  raised 
platform  sometimes  made  in  three  tiers  runs  around  the  sides  and  the 
general  fireplace  is  very  large.  Here  are  carried  on  the  common  labors 


REINDEER    AND    ESKIMOS.  147 

of  the  natives,  their  councils,  their  feasts  and  festivals,  and  here  sleep 
the  adult  unmarried  males.  Their  hot  baths  also  are  performed  in 
its  superheated  and  fetid  atmosphere. 

They  love  to  masquerade  and  their  dances  are  often  accomplished 
in  masks.  Sometimes  the  women  appear  in  male  garments,  wearing 
mustaches  with  bead  pendants  instead  of  labrets  in  the  under  lip. 
Sometimes  the  men  appear  as  women.  Their  only  musical  instrument 
is  a  bladder  drum  which  is  beaten  with  a  thump  and  a  pause,  then  two 
thumps  and  a  pause,  like  a  slow  waltz.  This  is  accompanied  by  weird 
singing.  The  dancing  consists  wholly  of  contortions  without  moving 
from  the  spot.  This  posturing,  which  displays  suppleness,  never  de- 
picts anything  indecent  or  immodest.  The  men  wear  on  these  occa- 
sions white  reindeer  skin  and  summer  boots,  the  women  their  ordinary 
dress  with  the  addition  of  bracelets  and  beads. 

Lieutenant  L.  Zagoskin  of  the  Russian  Navy  thus  describes  an  enter- 
tainment given  by  the  Eskimo  women :  — 

"  We  entered  the  kashga  by  the  common  passage  and  found  the 
guests  already  assembled  but  of  the  hostesses  nothing  was  to  be  seen. 
On  three  sides  of  the  apartment  stone  lamps  were  lighted,  the  fire- 
hole  was  covered  with  boards,  one  of  them  having  a  circular  opening 
through  which  the  hostesses  were  to  make  their  appearance.  Two 
other  burning  lamps  were  placed  in  front  of  the  fire-hole.  The  guests 
who  formed  the  chorus  began  to  sing  to  the  sound  of  the  drum,  two 
men  keeping  them  in  order  by  beating  time  with  sticks  adorned  with 
wolfs'  tails  and  gulls'  wings.  Thus  a  good  half  hour  passed  by.  Of 
the  song  my  interpreter  told  me  that  it  consisted  of  pleasantry  directed 
against  the  women;  that  it  was  evident  they  had  nothing  to  give,  as 
they  had  not  shown  themselves  for  so  long  a  time.  Another  song 
praised  the  housewifely  accomplishments  of  some  woman  whose  ap- 
pearance was  impatiently  expected  with  a  promised  trencher  of  the 
mixed  mess  of  reindeer  fat  and  berries.  No  sooner  was  this  song  fin- 
ished than  the  woman  appeared  and  was  received  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm.  The  dish  was  set  before  the  men,  and  the  woman  retreated 


148  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

amid  vociferous  compliments  on  her  culinary  skill.  She  was  followed 
by  another  woman.  The  beating  of  drums  increased  in  violence  and 
the  wording  of  the  song  was  changed.  Standing  up  in  the  centre  of 
the  circle  the  woman  began  to  relate,  in  mimicry  and  gesture,  how  she 
obtained  the  fat,  how  she  stored  it  in  various  receptacles,  how  she 
cleansed  and  melted  it,  and  then  placing  a  kantag  on  her  head  she 
invited  the  spectators  with  gestures  to  approach.  The  song  went  on, 
while  eagerness  to  partake  of  the  promised  luxury  lighted  up  the  faces 
of  the  crowd.  At  last  the  wooden  spoons  were  distributed,  one  to  each 
man,  and  nothing  was  heard  for  some  time  but  the  guzzling  of  the 
luscious  fluid.  Another  woman  appeared,  followed  by  still  another, 
and  luxuries  of  all  kinds  were  produced  in  quick  succession  and  as 
quickly  despatched,  while  the  singers  pointedly  alluded  to  the  praise- 
worthy Russian  custom  of  distributing  tobacco.  When  the  desired 
luxury  had  been  produced  a  woman  represented  with  great  skill  the 
various  stages  of  stupefaction  resulting  from  smoking  and  snuffing. 
All  the  women  appeared  in  men's  parkas." 

The  return  entertainment  presented  by  the  men  began  with  a  cho- 
rus sung  under  the  fire-hole.  They  informed  the  women  that  trap- 
ping, hunting  and  trade  were  bad  and  that  they  had  nothing  to  do  but 
sing  and  dance  to  please  the  women.  Then  an  antiphonal  chorus  by 
the  women  replied  that  since  they  were  so  lazy  that  they  could  not  get 
any  food  and  cared  for  nothing  but  smoking  and  bathing,  they  had 
better  go  supperless  to  bed.  Then  the  men  replied  that  they  would 
go  and  hunt  for  something.  One  of  them  appeared  through  the  open- 
ing in  the  fire-hole.  He  was  dressed  in  female  apparel  with  bead  pen- 
dants in  his  nose  and  with  fringes  of  wolverine  tails  and  beads  and 
bracelets,  and  this  one  mimicked  the  actions  of  the  women.  Then 
throwing  off  his  parka  he  gave  a  vivid  representation  of  how  seated 
in  his  swift  kayak  he  pursued  the  maklak  seal.  A  whole  boiled  seal 
was  then  served.  Others  in  like  manner  represented  a  reindeer  hunt, 
and  all  sorts  of  domestic  exercises.  Sometimes  practical  jokes  are 
played  and  are  always  taken  in  good  spirit  and  never  resented. 


REINDEER    AND    ESKIMOS.  151 

The  autumnal  festival  in  honor  of  deceased  kinsfolk  is  thus  described 
by  Mr.  Ivan  Petrof ,  who  is  an  authority  on  Alaskan  ethnology :  — 

"  At  sunset  the  men  assemble  in  the  kashga,  and,  after  a  hurried 
bath,  ornament  each  other  by  tracing  various  figures  with  a  mixture 
of  oil  and  charcoal  on  the  naked  back.  Two  boys,  who  for  this  occa- 
sion are  respectively  named  Raven  and  Hawk,  are  in  attendance,  mix- 
ing the  paint,  etc.  Finally  the  faces  also  are  thickly  smeared,  and 
then  the  females  are  summoned  into  the  kashga.  After  a  brief  lapse 
of  time  a  noise  is  heard,  shrieks  and  yells,  snorting  and  roaring,  and 
the  disguised  men,  emerging  from  the  fire-hole,  show  their  heads  above 
the  floor,  blowing  and  puffing  like  seals.  It  is  impossible  to  distinguish 
any  human  figure,  as  some  are  crawling  with  their  feet  foremost,  others 
running  on  their  hands  and  feet,  while  the  head  of  another  is  seen 
protruding  between  the  legs  of  a  companion.  They  all  cling  together 
and  move  in  concert,  like  one  immense  snake.  A  number  of  the  men 
wear  masks  representing  the  heads  of  animals,  and  the  unsightly  beings 
advance  upon  the  spectators,  but  chiefly  endeavoring  to  frighten  the 
women,  who  have  no  means  of  escaping  molestation  except  by  buying 
off  the  actors  with  presents.  Knowing  what  was  before  them,  they 
have  brought  the  kantags  or  wooden  bowls  full  of  delicious  morsels  — 
beluga  blubber,  walrus  meat,  whale-oiled  berries,  and  other  dainties. 
When  each  of  the  maskers  has  eaten  and  filled  a  bowl  or  two  to  take 
home,  they  indulge  in  a  pantomime  and  gesture  play  of  a  highly  gro- 
tesque character.  After  completing  the  ceremony  in  the  kashga  the 
maskers  frequently  visit  some  of  the  dwellings  and  receive  gifts  in 
each,  the  whole  performance  ending  with  singing,  dancing  and  feasting 
in  the  kashga. ' ' 

At  one  of  these  annual  memorial  feasts  witnessed  by  Zagoskin  there 
were  seventy  persons  present  and  the  gifts  that  were  to  be  distributed 
in  memory  of  the  seven  who  had  died  consisted  of  spears,  arrows,  vari- 
ous garments,  seal  skins,  paddles,  knives,  hatchets,  rings,  mats  and 
other  articles.  Shamans  or  tungaks  acted  as  masters  of  the  ceremony 
and  furnished  the  special  songs.  Then  came  the  dinner,  which  consisted 


152  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

of  mountains  of  blubber,  several  boiled  seals,  and  quantities  of  dried 
fish.  There  were  as  many  as  fifteen  different  dishes  or  courses. 

Another  quaint  festivity  is  in  honor  of  the  spirits  of  the  sea,  which 
they  call  ingiak.  This  is  performed  with  the  bladders  of  all  the  crea- 
tures killed  during  the  year.  During  the  first  days  of  December  these 
bladders  —  of  fish,  rats,  mice,  squirrels,  and  seals,  bear  or  deer  —  are 
inflated,  painted  gaudy  colors  and  hung  up  in  the  kashga.  The  men 
likewise  contribute  curiously  carved  figures  of  birds  and  fishes,  some- 
times with  ingeniously  contrived  eyes,  heads  or  wings.  These  figures 
are  manipulated  all  day  long  and  in  the  meantime  are  well  cured  in 
smoke,  amid  the  chanting  of  melancholy  songs.  On  the  last  day  they 
are  taken  down,  attached  to  painted  sticks  and  carried  down  to  the 
sea,  where  they  are  weighted  with  stones  and  set  afloat.  The  people 
watch  them  and  from  their  behavior  the  shamans  are  enabled  to  cal- 
culate the  prosperity  of  the  coming  year. 

The  daily  customs  of  the  Alaska  Eskimo  are  quaint  and  curious. 
The  unmarried  men  sleep  in  the  kashga,  some  on  reindeer  skins,  others 
on  bare  planks,  covering  themselves  with  their  parkas  in  lieu  of  paja- 
mas, with  their  trousers  for  pillows.  About  eight  o  'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing the  first  person  who  happens  to  awake  lights  the  oil  lamp.  By 
and  by  the  women  bring  in  the  breakfast.  After  breakfast  the  men 
attend  to  their  various  duties  —  in  looking  after  their  traps  or  going 
with  a  dog-team  for  wood ;  the  boys  and  girls  set  snares  for  small  game. 
Early  in  the  afternoon  the  men  return  from  their  work.  Their  wives 
help  them  get  off  their  wet  clothes,  unharness  the  dogs  and  look  after 
the  fish  or  the  seal  that  they  have  brought  home.  After  dinner  the 
bath  is  in  order.  A  great  fire  is  lighted  inside  the  kashga,  which  is 
speedily  heated  to  suffocation.  The  men  remove  their  garments,  lash 
themselves  with  alder  branches  and  dance  about,  and  when  they  are 
in  a  vigorous  perspiration  they  lather  themselves  with  what  serves 
them  for  soap.  This  they  wash  off  with  fresh  water  and  fling  it  into 
the  four  corners.  Then  they  rush  out  into  the  snow  or  jump  into  a 
river  if  one  be  near  and  free  from  ice.  Then  the  opening  of  the  kashga 


REINDEER    AND    ESKIMOS.  153 

is  removed  so  that  a  little  ventilation  may  enter  and  the  men  sit  around 
on  the  platform  as  if  they  had  had  a  Turkish  bath. 

When  a  native  is  ill  the  medicine  man  is  called  to  drive  out  the  evil 
spirit.    The  process  is  thus  described :  — 

"  In  one  of  the  dwellings  sits  the  patient,  suffering  from  fever  and 
rheumatic  pains;  before  him  are  placed  two  lighted  oil  lamps,  and  a 
parka  is  drawn  over  his  head,  while  two  shamans  or  tungaks,  one 
standing  on  each  side,  alternately  sing  and  beat  the  drum.  Behind 
them,  faintly  visible  in  the  semidarkness,  is  the  head  of  an  old  woman 
who,  while  imitating  the  croaking  of  a  raven,  rubs  and  pounds  the  back 
of  the  patient.  If  the  pain  does  not  cease  the  old  woman  changes  her 
tactics  and  also  her  voice,  imitating  successively  the  chattering  of  mag- 
pies, the  barking  of  dogs,  and  the  howling  of  wolves,  and  if  all  this 
be  in  vain  she  throws  herself  upon  the  sufferer,  cuffing  and  beating  him 
until  she  makes  him  forget  one  pain  in  another,  while  the  tungaks  sing 
louder  and  louder  and  the  drums  give  forth  a  deafening  noise.  At  last 
she  snatches  the  parka  from  the  patient's  head,  yells  repeatedly,  and 
points  to  the  roof;  the  cover  of  the  smoke-hole  is  removed  and  the 
evil  spirit  which  has  caused  the  sickness  escapes  amid  the  beating  of 
drums  and  the  triumphant  cry, '  He  is  gone !  He  is  gone !  Ugh !  Ugh !  ' 
and  the  old  woman,  her  task  accomplished,  collapses  into  a  mass  of 
rags  upon  the  floor.  It  is  the  third  spirit  driven  out  of  this  patient 
—  how  many  more  dwell  within  him  nobody  can  tell;  if  it  was  the 
last  he  will  soon  mend,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  not  the  last  there  will 
be  more  chanting,  more  drumming,  more  cuffing  and  more  payments 
to  the  cunning  tungaks,  until  the  sick  man  either  dies  or  can  pay  no 
more.  The  tungaks  claim  that  their  scheme  and  skill  consist  in  dis- 
covering what  spirit  infests  the  sick  man,  and  to  drive  it  out  they  do 
not  consider  difficult  at  all." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

ST.  MICHAEL'S  AND  NOME. 

THE  steamships  plying  the  Yukon,  unless  they  get  stuck  on  some 
sandbar  at  its  mouth,  land  passengers  about  sixty  miles  north 
of  the  Afun  or  Aphoon  branch  of  the  river  at  Fort  St.  Michael's, 
which  was  founded  by  the  Russians  in  1833,  and  still  boasts  the  re- 
doubt and  storehouse  built  by  Mikhail  Tebenkof  in  1833.  The  Russian 
fort  was  attacked  in  1836  by  hostile  Unaligmutes,  who  occupied  the 
coast  of  North  Sound  as  far  down  as  the  Yukon  and  up  into  the  coun- 
try as  far  as  the  mountains.  It  was  successfully  defended,  however. 
A  Russian  church  was  built  here  and  is  still  maintained.  St.  Michael's 
is  a  United  States  Military  Reservation  and  is  situated  on  an  island 
twenty-five  miles  long  and  six  or  seven  wide  and  rising  to  volcanic 
heights  called  the  Shaman  Mountains.  Commercial  and  transporta- 
tion companies  have  been  permitted  to  establish  themselves  there,  and 
travellers  are  accommodated  at  a  good  hotel,  but  no  liquor  is  permitted 
to  be  sold.  The  Eskimos  bring  here  their  beautiful  carved  walrus  tusks, 
toy  models  of  their  kayaks  and  bidarkas,  furs  and  basket  ware. 

A  small  tug  or  steamer  sails  from  here  the  hundred  and  eleven 
miles  across  Norton  Sound  to  Nome,  where  we  may  have  the  exciting 
experience  of  being  landed  in  the  surf,  perhaps  getting  thoroughly 
wet  in  the  icy  waters  of  the  roadstead.  Few  of  the  early  gold- seekers 
escaped  that  baptism  of  the  north.  At  the  present  time  when  pas- 
sengers are  desirous  of  landing  at  Nome  they  are  transferred  to  a 
stout  flat-bottomed  barge  which  is  hauled  in  by  a  cable  till  it  grounds. 
Then  a  cage  is  let  down  from  a  heavy  projecting  beam  and  when  filled 
is  carried  over  the  surf  to  a  high  platform  on  the  land. 

Mr.  John  Scudder  McLain,  who  accompanied  the  Senatorial  "  Chi- 

154 


ST.    MICHAEL'S    AND    NOME.  155 

Cha-Kos  "  on  their  memorable  trip  to  Alaska  in  1903,  thus  gives  his 
impression  of  Nome :  — 

*  Take  a  low  sandy  beach,  one  without  a  tree  within  fifty  miles; 
show  a  white  line  where  the  waves  break  into  foam  along  the  shore; 
stretch  along  the  water's  edge  for  a  mile  or  more  a  double  row  of  frame 
buildings,  most  of  them  two  stories  high  and  facing  each  other ;  cover 
the  street  between  with  boards  laid  on  the  sand;  don't  be  very  par- 
ticular about  making  the  street  lines  straight,  nor  insist  that  the  street 
shall  have  uniform  width ;  let  the  elevation  and  width  of  the  sidewalks 
be  determined  by  chance,  it  produces  more  variety  and  claims  closer 
attention  from  the  pedestrian;  fill  the  lower  floors  of  the  buildings 
along  the  street  with  business  undertakings  of  various  kinds,  and  the 
upper  floors  reserve  for  living  purposes;  throw  in  a  liberal  portion 
of  places  devoted  to  the  gratification  of  highly  developed  thirsts ;  fill 
the  air  at  frequent  intervals  with  the  sounds  of  ragtime  music ;  gather 
on  the  sidewalk  and  in  the  narrow  street  groups  of  men  who  seem  to 
have  nothing  particular  to  do  and  are  doing  it ;  then  go  back  from  the 
first  street  and  locate  a  church  or  two,  a  school  house,  a  federal  court- 
house and  custom  house,  sprinkle  around  a  few  small  buildings  for 
residence  purposes;  fill  the  air  with  a  cold  drizzle  and  you  have  the 
materials  out  of  which  were  obtained  my  first  impressions  of  Nome, 
on  the  morning  of  July  29. ' ' 

Nome  stretches  along  the  beach  almost  due  east  and  west  for  the 
distance  of  twenty-five  or  more  city  blocks  from  Snake  Eiver,  where 
the  two  cemeteries  are  laid  out.  At  first  it  consisted  of  a  single  street 
which  was  the  beach  itself,  but  as  it  grew  one  parallel  street  after  an- 
other was  added  until  now  it  lies  on  the  tundra  half  a  dozen  or  more 
streets  back.  The  buildings,  especially  along  the  front,  are  a  curious 
and  picturesque  jumble  of  residences,  apartment  houses,  shops,  saloons, 
banks,  millinery  establishments,  churches,  dance-halls,  government 
buildings,  steamship  and  transportation  offices,  hospitals,  and  schools. 
Here  one  finds  great  heaps  of  coal  worth  almost  its  weight  in  gold, 
here  an  Eskimo  tent.  The  buildings  next  the  sea  project  out  over  the 


156  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

water.  The  streets,  though  nominally  laid  out  four  square,  have  in 
some  cases  got  juggled  and  cross  at  angles ;  buildings  have  been  erected 
•with  slight  attention  to  what  might  be  called  registration ;  one  may  be 
a  couple  of  feet  in  front  of  another,  while  still  another  faces  a  different 
point  of  the  compass. 

There  are  board  sidewalks  not  quite  so  well  kept  as  the  one  at  At- 
lantic City.  In  some  places  it  is  wide,  then  it  narrows,  then  it  curves 
and  straightens  itself;  it  is  above  the  street;  it  is  below  the  street; 
here  it  is  well  kept,  here,  possibly  at  a  crossing,  it  is  badly  wrecked. 
Nome  has  all  the  conveniences  of  a  modern  city  in  the  way  of  amuse- 
ments, educational  and  otherwise.  It  is  connected  with  Seattle  by  cable 
and  wireless  and  a  system  of  long-distance  telephone  puts  it  into  com- 
munication with  the  other  mining  centres  of  the  peninsula,  which  may 
be  reached,  in  summer  by  automobiles  or  stages,  and  in  winter  by 
reindeer  or  dog  teams  and  sledges.  There  are  excellent  schools  serving 
a  permanent  population  of  four  thousand  and  more.  There  are  three 
newspapers ;  a  water  system  which  is  kept  open  in  winter  by  a  parallel 
system  of  steam  pipes  has  been  established.  The  town  is  brilliantly 
lighted  with  electricity,  though  owing  to  the  price  of  coal  the  light 
comes  high.  The  summer  traffic  in  freight  is  said  to  amount  to  a  hun- 
dred thousand  tons.  One  lumber  firm  at  Nome  imports  stock  by  the 
million  feet  from  Puget  Sound.  A  railway,  known  as  the  Wild  Groose, 
runs  north  from  Nome  fifty  miles  through  the  river  valley  and,  crossing 
to  the  headwaters  of  the  Kruzgamepa,  has  its  terminus  at  Lane's  Land- 
ing on  the  Kuzitrin. 

One  may  go  by  boat  to  Tin  City,  three  miles  west  of  Teller,  at  the 
Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  where  valuable  tin  mines  have  been  discovered. 
This  was  the  region  where  the  early  miners  found  sluicing  for  gold 
impossible  owing  to  the  presence  of  heavy  gravel.  They  did  not  recog- 
nize in  this  enemy  a  masked  and  secret  friend.  It  was  really  stream 
tin  and  the  probabilities  are  that  in  time  a  good  part  of  the  twenty 
million  dollars'  worth  of  tin  used  in  the  United  States  will  be  supplied 
from  the  Seward  Peninsula. 


ST.    MICHAEL'S    AND    NOME.  157 

The  Congregational  Church  established  a  mission  at  Cape  Prince 
of  Wales  in  1890;  four  years  later  the  minister  in  charge  was  mur- 
dered by  some  renegade  Eskimos.  The  murderers  were  promptly  exe- 
cuted by  the  authorities  of  their  own  village.  This  was  one  of  the  few 
known  instances  of  the  natives  of  this  part  of  Alaska  ever  showing 
any  unprovoked  lawlessness  toward  the  whites. 

From  the  highest  part  of  the  Cape  Prince  of  Wales  on  a  clear  day 
the  mountains  of  Kamchatka  can  be  seen,  and  one  can  not  help  won- 
dering how  it  was  that  the  corresponding  glimpses  of  Alaska  from 
the  high  hills  back  of  East  Cape,  rising  as  they  do  to  a  height  of  a  mile, 
did  not  long  before  cause  it  to  be  surmised  that  the  Bering  Strait  sep- 
arated two  continents. 

From  Nome  one  may  sail  directly  to  Seattle,  a  distance  of  nearly 
twenty-seven  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  One  passes  not  far  from  the 
great  St.  Lawrence  Island,  which  lies  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
south  of  Bering  Sea  and  within  sight  of  Indian  Point  in  Siberia,  forty 
miles  or  so  away.  It  is  about  a  hundred  miles  long  and  forty  miles 
wide.  Its  coast  is  lined  with  high  cliffs  which  sweep  up  into  consid- 
erable mountains  in  the  interior,  where  there  are  a  number  of  lakes 
connected  with  salmon  streams.  There  is  only  one  good  harbor.  The 
inhabitants,  though  they  deny  the  fact,  are  descendants  of  Siberian 
natives,  who  frequently  abuse  them  and  even  massacre  them.  Disease 
and  famine  in  recent  years  have  reduced  the  population  considerably. 
It  is  now  an  interesting  station  for  the  reindeer  which,  with  the  in- 
struction of  the  mission  school,  are  helping  the  people  to  be  self-sup- 
porting. 

Lieutenant  Maynard  of  the  United  States  Navy,  who  visited  this 
island  in  1874,  thus  describes  it :  — 

"  The  surface  is  irregular  and  broken,  consisting  of  hills  connected 
by  low  flat  plains,  which  are  but  a  few  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Both  the  ranges  of  hills  and  the  lowlands  extend  entirely  across  the 
island  from  north  to  south ;  hence,  when  approached  from  either  direc- 
tion, the  latter  are  not  seen  at  first,  and  the  land  has  the  appearance 


158  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

of  being  several  separate  islands.  Captain  Cook,  who  discovered  it  in 
1778,  was  thus  deceived,  and  as  he  did  not  sail  near  enough  afterwards 
to  discover  his  mistake  gave  the  supposed  group  the  name  of  Cleaks 
Islands.  There  are  no  harbors,  but  good  anchorage  can  be  found  at 
several  points,  with  from  six  to  eleven  fathoms  of  water,  in  light 
weather  or  when  the  wind  is  from  the  land.  It  is  covered  in  summer 
with  grass,  moss  and  flowers  and  in  places  a  creeping  willow  grows, 
but  neither  trees  nor  shrubs  of  any  kind.  There  are  several  lagoons 
and  numerous  fresh-water  ponds,  fed  by  small  streams  from  the  hills, 
are  distributed  over  the  plains.  The  greater  part  of  the  shore  is  a 
low  sand  beach,  but  at  the  southwestern  end  of  the  island  and  at  sev- 
eral points  on  the  northern  shore,  it  rises  into  almost  perpendicular 
cliffs,  from  one  hundred  to  three  hundred  feet  high.  Those  at  the  south- 
western end  present  a  singular  appearance  when  viewed  from  the 
water.  The  beating  of  the  surf  and  the  action  of  the  water  have  broken 
up  and  worn  away  the  material  of  which  they  are  composed  (talcose 
slate),  leaving  needles  or  spires,  some  of  them  one  hundred  feet  in 
height,  standing  out  several  yards  from  the  cliff.  Deep  cracks  or  fis- 
sures, extending  from  top  to  bottom,  have  also  been  formed  in  the 
cliffs,  which  are  filled  from  the  water's  edge  with  solid  masses  of  snow 
(although  it  was  in  the  month  of  August  we  saw  them)  beautifully 
colored  in  many  places  by  bird  guano  and  reddish  substance  in  the 
rock." 

The  same  writer  thus  describes  the  appearance  of  the  natives :  — 
' '  The  men  are  tall  and  straight,  without  hair  upon  their  faces  except 
a  slight  mustache  and  a  few  scattered  hairs  upon  the  chins  of  the  old 
men.  They  have  black  hair  and  eyes,  and  their  complexion  is  of  a  very 
light  copper  color.  Their  dress  consists  of  a  kind  of  shirt  reaching 
half  way  to  the  knee,  made  in  some  cases  of  tanned  reindeer  skin,  and 
in  others  of  bird  skins  (feathers  outside).  It  fits  closely  around  the 
neck  and  has  a  hood  that  can  be  drawn  over  the  head,  lined  with  the 
fur  of  dogs  and  foxes  or  with  bird  skins.  It  is  confined  at  the  waist 
by  a  belt,  from  which  hang  a  sheath  knife  and  a  skin  tobacco  pouch. 


ST.    MICHAEL'S    AND    NOME.  159 

Their  breeches  are  made  of  tanned  hair-seal  skin,  fitting  the  legs  closely, 
and  tied  at  the  ankle  with  leather  strings.  They  wear  on  their  feet 
a  kind  of  moccasin  made  of  seal  skin,  with  a  sole  of  walrus  hide. 

11  The  dress  of  the  women  is  somewhat  different.  Their  upper  gar- 
ment is  made  of  the  intestines  of  the  walrus,  neatly  sewed  together, 
and  is  similar  in  shape  to  that  of  the  men,  but  longer  and  worn  without 
a  belt.  Beneath  this  they  wear  short  drawers,  reaching  only  to  the 
knee,  made  of  tanned  seal  skins.  Instead  of  moccasins  they  wear  a 
sort  of  boot,  the  legs  of  which  are  made  of  either  the  throat  or  intes- 
tines of  the  walrus,  and  the  sole  of  walrus  hide.  Most  of  the  men 
shave  the  crown  of  their  heads,  leaving  only  a  rim  of  their  hair,  about 
an  inch  wide  entirely  around  the  head.  The  women  do  not  cut  their 
hair,  but  part  it  in  the  middle,  and  wear  it  in  two  braids  with  strings 
of  beads  intermixed.  Their  foreheads,  cheeks,  chins  and  arms  are  tat- 
tooed in  various  devices  with  a  light  blue  pigment  of  some  kind,  and 
the  ears  of  some  have  little  notches  cut  in  them.  None  of  the  men 
are  tattooed,  but  many  wear  little  strings  of  beads  in  their  ears.  Their 
countenances  are  bright  and  rather  intelligent  and  both  men  and  women 
are  lively  and  talkative. ' ' 

A  little  less  than  half  way  between  St.  Lawrence  Island  and  the 
Pribilofs  stands  the  lonely  island  of  St.  Matthew.  It  was  discovered 
and  named  by  Bering,  and  rediscovered  by  Captain  Cook,  who  gave  it 
another  name  that  did  not  live.  His  name  for  the  queer  promontory 
at  the  southeastern  end  was  Cape  Upright.  This  is  a  perpendicular 
crag  fifteen  hundred  feet  high.  On  the  northwestern  end  is  another 
bluff  that  rises  to  a  height  of  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy  feet.  Here 
also  are  clear  streams  and  ponds  filled  with  trout.  Its  only  inhab- 
itants are  enormous  white  bears,  some  of  them  as  much  as  eight  feet 
long,  and  innumerable  birds  —  shags,  gulls,  sea-parrots,  murries,  chul- 
skies,  eider  ducks,  Canada  geese,  plovers,  and  great  blue  cranes. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

SEALS,   SEA -LIONS   AND   WALKTJS. 

THE  one  hundred  and  seventieth  degree  west  from  Greenwich 
passes  through  the  East  Cape  of  Siberia,  cuts  through  the  very 
centre  of  St.  Lawrence  Island  and  divides  the  Pribilof  Islands. 
Here  it  is  interesting  to  make  a  pause  and  observe  the  habits  of  the 
fur -bearing  seal,  or,  as  it  should  properly  be  called,  the  sea-bear.  The 
discovery  of  the  islands  has  already  been  mentioned.  They  are  now 
under  the  protection  of  the  United  'States  Government,  which  main- 
tains a  guard  over  them  to  see  that  poachers  do  not  land  for  the  pur- 
pose of  killing  the  few  seals  that  are  left.  The  cause  of  the  tremendous 
reduction  in  the  number  of  seals  resorting  to  these  islands  is  now  uni- 
versally recognized  to  be  pelagic  fishing.  As  Canadian  sealers  were 
engaged  in  the  destructive  pursuit  of  the  seals,  as  the  skins  were 
dressed  in  London  and  formed  an  important  industry  there,  an  inter- 
national conference  was  held  in  Paris  in  1893;  the  testimony  seemed 
conflicting,  and  the  two  countries  agreed  to  limit  pelagic  sealing  by  pro- 
hibiting it  at  any  time  within  sixty  miles  of  the  Pribilof  Islands  and 
permitting  it  to  be  followed  in  the  rest  of  Bering  Sea  for  ninety  days 
following  May  1.  Two  years  later  it  was  estimated  that  the  herds 
of  seals  which  numbered  fully  two  milions  —  some  extravagantly  put 
it  at  five  millions  —  in  1867  had  been  reduced  to  about  200,000.  Indeed 
it  was  gravely  suggested  by  Professor  Huxley  that  it  would  not  be 
such  a  very  serious  loss  to  mankind  if  the  seals  were  all  extirpated. 
He  said,  very  cynically :  — 

* '  Mankind  will  not  suffer  much  if  the  ladies  are  obliged  to  do  with- 
out seal-skin  jackets,  and  the  fraction  of  the  English,  Canadian  and 

160 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  161 

American  population  which  lives  on  the  seal-skin  industry  will  be  no 
worse  off  than  the  vastly  greater  multitude  who  have  had  to  suffer 
for  the  vagaries  of  fashion  times  out  of  number.  Certainly  if  the  seals 
are  to  be  the  source  of  constant  bickering  between  two  nations,  the 
sooner  they  are  abolished  the  better." 

But  President  Jordan,  criticising  the  same  proposal  which  was  put 
forward  by  treasury  agent  Joseph  B.  Crowley,  utterly  condemns  it,  de- 
claring that  it  "  would  necessarily  involve  all  this  inhuman  waste  on 
a  wholesale  scale  and  lodge  the  odium  for  it  for  all  time  on  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.  Besides,"  he  adds,  "  it  would  not 
be  possible  totally  to  exterminate  the  race  without  keeping  up  the 
slaughter  for  many  years,  as  not  all  the  animals  are  present  at  one  time 
a  season. ' '  He  says :  "  A  hunted  remnant  must  remain,  which,  if  left 
unmolested,  would  restock  the  rookeries  and  reopen  the  whole  ques- 
tion." 

The  English  Government,  in  spite  of  the  able  arguments  of  James  G. 
Blaine,  then  Secretary  of  State,  were  convinced  of  the  comparative 
harmlessness  of  pelagic  sealing ;  thus  the  fate  of  the  wonderful  rooker- 
ies was  sealed.  Once  before  they  had  been  threatened  with  extinction, 
just  as  those  in  the  South  Pacific  were  exterminated  by  a  treatment 
utterly  cruel,  selfish  and  blind.  The  number  of  seals  killed  on  the  Pri- 
bilof  Islands  was  carefully  regulated  and  the  Aleuts  who  were  colonized 
on  them  were  the  only  person  allowed  to  do  the  driving.  Although 
one  competent  observer  had  reported  to  the  Russian  Government  that 
he  had  seen  a  school  of  fur  seals  covering  the  surface  of  the  ocean  for 
two  nautical  miles,  the  determined  onslaught  of  pelagic  fishermen  did 
not  begin  to  take  serious  proportions  until  the  early  seventies.  Then 
the  reckless  way  in  which  they  were  pursued  had  its  full  and  fell  effect. 
It  was  universally  admitted  by  those  engaged  in  the  business  that  not 
one  out  of  ten  seals  killed  or  wounded  was  obtained  before  they  sank, 
and  as  it  is  impossible  to  tell  the  sex  of  the  creatures  when  they  are 
in  the  water  a  large  proportion  of  the  catch,  as  well  as  those  lost,  con- 
sisted of  the  cows  and  their  unborn  young. 


162  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

It  has  been  claimed  by  the  opponents  of  the  seals  that  the  damage 
they  did  to  the  fishing  interest  by  the  enormous  amount  of  fish  they 
consumed  more  than  offset  the  advantage  of  keeping  their  rookeries 
intact.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  was  argued  that  the  seals  never  went 
into  the  great  depths  where  cod  and  such  fish  live,  but  subsist  on  dog- 
fish and  similar  surface  fish,  thus  doing  immense  good  in  keeping  down 
the  insatiate  horde  of  those  harriers  of  the  deep.  It  has  been  estimated 
that  when  the  rookeries  were  at  their  prime  the  seals  consumed  six 
million  tons  of  fish  per  year. 

Of  late  years  the  Japanese  sealing  fleet  which  was  not  bound  by 
the  convention  between  England  and  America  has  largely  increased. 
They  have  refused  to  observe  any  close  season  and  in  some  instances 
they  have  even  attempted  to  plunder  the  rookeries  on  St.  Paul  Island. 
Every  year  their  boldness  increases.  In  1907  they  secured  more  than 
thirteen  thousand  skins  in  Alaskan  waters.  Properly  conserved  the 
seal  islands  would  afford  a  legitimate  traffic  of  more  than  one  million 
dollars  a  year  for  centuries  to  come. 

The  two  principal  islands  of  the  Pribilof  group  are  thirty  miles  apart. 
St.  Paul  has  an  area  of  about  twenty-five  hundred  acres  or  thirty-five 
square  miles;  its  highest  elevation,  Bogoslov,  an  extinct  volcano,  is 
six  hundred  feet  and  its  population  of  transplanted  Aleuts,  most  of 
them  formerly  quite  prosperous,  is  reckoned  as  not  far  from  three 
hundred.  It  has  forty-two  miles  of  shore  line,  almost  half  of  which 
was  formerly  occupied  by  seals. 

St.  George  is  twenty-seven  square  miles  in  area  and  the  top  of  its 
mountain  is  nine  hundred  and  thirty  feet  above  the  sea.  It  has  a 
smaller  population,  both  of  seals  and  drivers.  The  only  trees  are  creep- 
ing willows ;  there  are  a  few  bushes.  The  natives  with  care  raise  let- 
tuce, radishes,  and  turnips,  but  the  multitude  of  flowers  makes  them 
beautiful  in  summer.  The  summer  climate  is  rainy  and  foggy  —  far 
more  disagreeable  than  that  of  Sitka,  which  is  on  the  same  parallel  of 
latitude.  Owing  to  the  difference  of  height,  five  times  as  much  rain 
falls  on  St.  George  as  on  St.  Paul,  though  they  are  such  near  neighbors. 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  163 

The  winter  climate  is  rather  cold,  the  thermometer  sometimes  regis- 
tering as  much  as  fifteen  degrees  below  zero. 

The  islands  are  the  haunts  of  innumerable  birds.  Mr.  Henry  W. 
Elliott  describes  not  less  than  forty  different  species,  many  of  them, 
to  be  sure,  like  the  robin,  temporary  visitants,  stragglers  brought  from 
the  mainland  evidently  against  their  will.  He  says  of  the  great  bird 
rookeries  on  the  bluffs  of  St.  George :  — "  After  the  dead  silence  of 
a  long  ice-bound  winter,  the  arrival  of  large  flocks  of  those  sparrows 
of  the  north,  the  '  choochkies  '  is  most  cheerful  and  interesting.  Those 
plump  little  auks  are  bright,  fearless,  vivacious  birds  with  bodies  round 
and  fat.  They  come  usually  in  chattering  flocks  on  or  immediately 
after  the  first  of  May  and  are  caught  by  the  people  with  hand  scoops 
or  dip  nets  to  any  number  that  may  be  required  for  the  day's  con- 
sumption ;  their  tiny  rotund  forms  making  pies  of  rare  savory  virtue, 
and  being  also  baked  and  roasted  and  stewed  in  every  conceivable 
shape  by  the  Russian  cooks;  indeed  they  are  equal  to  the  reed-birds 
of  the  South. 

"  These  welcome  visitors  are  succeeded  along  about  the  twentieth 
of  July  by  large  flocks  of  fat,  red-legged  turnstones,  which  come  in 
suddenly  from  the  west  or  north  where  they  have  been  breeding  and 
stop  on  the  islands  for  a  month  or  six  weeks,  as  the  case  may  be,  to 
feed  luxuriantly  on  the  flesh  flies  and  their  eggs.  Those  handsome 
birds  go  in  among  the  seals  familiarly  chasing  the  flies,  gnats,  etc. 
They  are  followed,  as  they  leave,  in  September,  by  several  species  of 
jacksnipe  and  a  plover;  these,  however,  soon  depart  as  early  as  the 
end  of  October  and  the  beginning  of  November  —  and  then  winter 
fairly  closes  in  upon  the  islands :  the  loud  roaring,  incessant  seal  din, 
together  with  the  screams  and  darkening  flight  of  innumerable  water- 
fowl, is  replaced  in  turn  again  by  absolute  silence,  marking  out,  as 
it  were,  in  lines  of  sharp  and  vivid  contrast,  summer's  life  and  win- 
ter's death." 

Wonderful  as  the  bird  life  is  on  the  large  inhabited  islands,  it  can- 
not compare  with  the  so-called  Walrus  Island,  which  lies  sixty  miles. 


164  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

from  the  Northeast  Point  of  St.  Paul's  —  a  mere  lava  ledge  often 
awash  with  surf  and  occasionally  haunted  by  male  walrus.  Mr.  Elliott 
calls  this  little  islet  the  most  interesting  single  spot  known  to  the  nat- 
uralist to  study  the  habits  of  bird  life.  "  Here  without  exertion  or 
risk,"  he  says,  "  he  can  observe  and  walk  among  tens  upon  tens  of 
thousands  of  screaming  waterfowl,  and  as  he  sits  down  upon  the  pol- 
ished lava  rock,  he  becomes  literally  ignored  and  environed  by  these 
feathered  friends  as  they  reassume  their  varied  positions  of  incubation 
which  he  disturbed  them  from  by  his  arrival.  Generation  after  gen- 
eration of  their  kind  have  resorted  to  this  rock  unmolested,  and  to-day, 
when  you  get  among  them,  all  doubt  and  distrust  seem  to  have  been 
eliminated  from  their  natures. 

"  The  island  itself  is  rather  unusual  in  those  formations  which  we 
find  peculiar  to  Alaskan  waters.  It  is  almost  flat,  with  slight  irregular 
undulations  on  top,  spreading  over  an  area  of  five  acres  perhaps.  It 
rises  abruptly,  though  low,  from  the  sea,  and  it  has  no  safe  beach  upon 
which  a  person  can  land  from  a  boat;  not  a  stick  of  timber  or  twig 
of  shrubbery  ever  grew  upon  it,  though  the  scant  presence  of  low  crawl- 
ing grasses,  in  the  central  portion,  prevents  the  statement  that  all 
vegetation  is  absent.  Were  it  not  for  the  frequent  rains  and  dissolving 
fog,  characteristic  of  summer  weather  here,  the  guano  accumulation 
would  be  something  wonderful  to  contemplate  —  Peru  would  have  a 
rival.  As  it  is,  however,  the  birds  when  they  return,  year  after  year, 
find  their  nesting-floor  swept  as  clean  as  if  they  had  never  sojourned 
there  before. 

"  The  scene  of  confusion  and  uproar  that  presented  itself  to  my 
astonished  senses  when  I  aproached  this  place  in  search  of  eggs,  one 
threatening  July  morning,  may  be  better  imagined  than  described,  for 
as  the  clumsy  bidarka  came  under  the  lee  of  the  low  cliffs,  swarm  upon 
swarm  of  murres  or  '  arries  '  dropped  in  fright  from  their  nesting 
shelves,  and  before  they  had  control  of  their  flight  they  struck  to  the 
right  and  the  left  of  me,  like  so  many  cannon  balls.  I  was  forced,  in 
self-protection,  instantly  to  crouch  for  a  few  moments  under  the  gun- 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  165 

wale  of  the  boat  until  the  struggling  startled  flock  passed,  like  an 
irresistible,  surging  wave,  over  my  head.  Words  cannot  depict  the 
amazement  and  curiosity  with  which  I  gazed  around,  after  climbing 
up  to  the  rocky  plateau  and  standing  among  myriads  of  breeding  birds, 
that  fairly  covered  the  entire  surface  of  the  island  with  their  shrink- 
ing forms,  while  others  whirled  in  rapid  flight  over  my  head,  as  wheels 
within  wheels,  so  thickly  inter-running  that  the  blue  and  gray  of  the 
sky  was  hidden  from  my  view.  Add  to  this  impression  the  stunning 
whirr  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  strong  beating  wings,  and  the  muf- 
fled croakings  of  the  *  arries,'  coupled  with  an  indescribable,  disagree- 
able smell  which  arose  from  the  broken  eggs  and  other  decaying  sub- 
stances, and  a  faint  idea  may  be  evoked  of  the  strange  reality  spread 
before  me." 

Mr.  Elliott  and  other  unscientific  observers  of  the  fur-seal  attribute 
to  them  almost  human  intelligence.  He  declares  that  the  head,  though 
small  in  proportion  to  the  weight  of  the  body,  which  is  often  in  excess 
of  five  hundred  pounds,  is  mostly  occupied  by  brain.  "  The  light 
frame-work  of  the  skull  supports  an  expressive  pair  of  large 
bluish-hazel  eyes,  alternately  burning  with  revengeful  passionate 
light,  then  suddenly  changing  to  the  tones  of  tenderness  and  good 
nature. 

11  Look  at  it,"  he  says,  "  as  it  comes  leisurely  swimming  on  toward 
the  land;  see  how  high  above  the  water  it  carries  its  head,  and  how 
deliberately  it  surveys  the  beach,  after  having  stepped  upon  it  (for 
it  may  be  truly  said  to  step  with  its  fore  flippers,  as  they  regularly 
alternate  when  it  moves  up) ,  carrying  the  head  well  above  them,  erect 
and  graceful,  at  least  three  feet  above  the  ground. ' ' 

Mr.  Elliott  claims  that  the  expression  of  the  cow-seal's  eye  is  "  really 
attractive,  gentle  and  intelligent.  The  large,  lustrous,  blue-black  eyes 
are  humid  and  soft  with  the  tenderest  expression,  while  the  small,  well- 
formed  head  is  poised  as  gracefully  on  her  neck  as  can  be  well  imag- 
ined. She  is  the  very  picture  of  benignity  and  satisfaction  when  she 
is  poised,  perched  up  on  some  convenient  rock,  and  has  an  opportunity 


166  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

to  quietly  fan  herself,  the  eyes  half  closed  and  the  head  thrown  back 
on  her  gently  swelling  shoulders. 

"  Indeed  one  would  think  that  the  seal  was  a  society  lady  just  in 
the  swim!  ' 

Mr.  Elliott  is  a  water  color  artist  and  paints  pictures  with  a  poetic 
touch. 

In  another  place  he  says:  "  The  cows  during  the  whole  season  do 
great  credit  to  their  amiable  expression  by  their  manner  and  behavior 
on  the  rookery.  They  never  fight  or  quarrel  one  with  the  other  and 
never  or  seldom  utter  a  cry  of  pain  or  rage  when  they  are  roughly 
handled  by  the  bulls. ' ' 

President  Jordan  cruelly  effaces  the  pretty  picture,  saying :  '  *  While 
the  cows  do  not  indulge  in  pitched  battles,  they  are  snappish  creatures, 
uncivil  to  each  other,  cruel  to  pups  not  their  own,  and  capable  of  giving 
their  lords  much  well-deserved  nagging. ' ' 

The  wonderful  intelligence  credited  to  the  seal  does  not  receive  the 
expert 's  sanction.  He  says :  —  "  The  life-processes  of  the  fur  seal 
are  perfect  as  clock-work,  but  its  grade  of  intelligence  is  low.  Its  range 
of  action  is  very  slight.  It  is  a  wonderful  automaton  and  the  stress 
of  its  migrations  will  always  keep  it  so." 

Keeping  the  scientific  check  on  our  imagination,  it  is  still  interesting 
to  study  the  seal  from  the  imaginative  point  of  view. 

Early  in  May  come  the  vanguard  of  the  males.  They  seem  "  shy 
and  sensitive,"  not  as  yet  ready  to  come  out  on  the  land.  When  the 
sikatch  or  master  bull  climbs  up  on  a  rock  he  regards  it  as  his  castle 
and  is  prepared  to  defend  it  with  all  his  might.  Mr.  Elliott  tells  of 
one  which  met  and  successfully  fought  off  not  less  than  forty  or  fifty 
desperate  attempts  to  drive  him  away. 

"  When  the  fighting  season  was  over,"  he  says,  "  I  saw  him  still 
there,  covered  with  scars  and  frightfully  gashed  —  raw,  festering  and 
bloody  —  one  eye  gouged  out,  but  lording  it  bravely  over  his  harem 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  females,  who  were  all  huddled  together  on  the  same 
spot  of  his  first  location  and  around  him." 


WILD    UAPIDS    ON    A    MOUNTAIN    STREAM. 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  169 

The  fighting  is  done  with  the  teeth.  The  males  seize  each  other 
and  clench  their  jaws  in  vise-like  grip.  Mr.  Elliott  says:  — "  They 
usually  approach  each  other  with  comically  averted  heads,  just  as  if 
they  were  ashamed  of  the  rumpus  which  they  are  determined  to  pre- 
cipitate. When  they  get  near  enough  to  reach  one  another  they  enter 
upon  the  repetition  of  many  feints  or  passes  before  either  one  or  the 
other  takes  the  initiative  by  gripping.  The  heads  are  darted  out  and 
back  as  quick  as  a  flash ;  their  hoarse  roaring  and  shrill  piping  whistle 
never  ceases,  while  their  fat  bodies  writhe  and  swell  with  exertion  and 
rage;  furious  lights  gleam  in  their  eyes;  their  hair  flies  in  the  air 
and  their  blood  streams  down;  all  combined  makes  a  picture  so  fierce 
and  so  strange  that  from  its  unexpected  position  and  its  novelty  it  is 
perhaps  one  of  the  most  extraordinarily  brutal  contests  one  can  witness. 

1 1  In  these  battles  of  the  seals  the  parties  are  always  distinct  —  the 
one  is  offensive,  the  other  defensive.  If  the  latter  proves  the  weaker, 
he  withdraws  from  the  position  occupied,  and  is  never  followed  by 
his  conqueror,  who  complacently  throws  up  one  of  his  hind-flippers, 
fans  himself  as  it  were,  to  cool  his  fevered  wrath  and  blood  from  the 
heat  of  the  conflict  and  sinks  into  comparative  quiet,  only  uttering  a 
peculiar  chuckle  of  satisfaction  or  contempt,  with  a  sharp  eye  open 
for  the  next  covetous  bull  or  *  sea-catch.'  " 

The  young  bulls,  called  kholostyaki  —  that  is  to  say  bachelors  —  are 
always  ready  to  get  into  the  ranks  of  the  sikatchi  or  masters.  They 
hang  around  the  rear  of  the  rookeries  and  seize  the  chance  to  steal  a 
cow  from  the  "  harem."  Often  the  old  bulls  combine  against  such  a 
seducer  and  the  battle  grows  so  fierce  that  death  sometimes  ensues. 
The  fighting  become  fast  and  furious  when  the  coming  and  going  of 
the  cows  give  better  chances  for  such  action.  When  a  bull  has  chosen 
a  station  he  refuses  to  leave  it  and  the  result  is  that  at  the  end  of  the 
summer,  no  matter  how  fat  and  well-conditioned  he  may  be  he  is  greatly 
reduced  in  flesh. 

The  cows  bring  forth  their  young  almost  as  soon  as  they  "  haul 
up  "  on  the  shore.  They  nurse  them  for  a  few  days,  very  much  as 


170  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

any  other  mammals,  not  allowing  them  to  move  away.  After  a  few 
days  the  cows  put  out  to  sea  for  feeding  purposes,  some  wandering 
away  a  hundred  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  When  they  return 
they  are  always  able  to  detect  their  own  young  from  amidst  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  similar  young  playing  together.  The  seal  at 
birth  is  about  two  feet  long  and  weighs  ten  or  a  dozen  pounds.  Their 
gregarious  instinct,  which  causes  the  cows  to  "  haul  up  "  in  enormous 
swarms,  also  brings  the  pups  into  regular  little  gangs :  these  are  tech- 
nically called  pods.  So  with  the  bachelor  seals  which  play  together  in 
the  surf  and  often  seem  to  amuse  themselves  by  teasing  the  pups. 

The  noise  made  by  a  seal  rookery  has  been  compared  to  the  roar 
of  Niagara;  it  can  be  heard  above  the  pounding  of  the  surf.  The 
cows  have  only  one  note,  like  the  cry  of  a  calf  or  old  sheep,  though 
if  they  are  suddenly  disturbed  they  spit  or  snort.  But  the  fighting 
males  utter  a  sound  like  a  locomotive  or  roar  hoarsely  or  gurgle  or 
make  a  chuckling  whistle.  Mr.  Elliott  says :  — "  The  sound  which 
arises  from  these  great  breeding  grounds  of  the  fur  seal,  where  thou- 
sands upon  ten  thousands  of  angry  vigilant  bulls  are  roaring,  chuck- 
ling and  piping,  and  multitudes  of  seal  mothers  are  calling  in  hollow, 
bleating  tones  to  their  young,  that  in  their  turn  respond  incessantly, 
is  simply  defiance  to  verbal  description.  It  is  at  a  slight  distance 
softened  into  a  deep  booming,  as  of  a  cataract,  and  I  have  heard  it, 
with  a  light  fair  wind  to  the  leeward,  as  far  as  six  miles  out  from  land 
on  the  sea;  and  even  in  the  thunder  of  the  surf  and  the  roar  of  heavy 
gales  it  will  rise  up  and  over  to  your  ear  for  quite  a  considerable  dis- 
tance away." 

Mr.  Elliott  declares  that  the  bachelor  seals  are  the  most  restless 
animals  in  the  whole  brute  creation.  They  play  with  each  other  like 
frisky  puppies.  ' l  When  weary  of  this  gambolling, ' '  he  says,  ' '  a  gen- 
eral disposition  to  sleep  is  suddenly  manifested,  and  they  stretch  them- 
selves out  and  curl  up  in  all  the  positions  and  all  the  postures  that 
their  flexible  spines  and  ball-and-socket  joints  will  permit.  They  seem 
to  revel  in  the  unwonted  vegetation  and  to  be  delighted  with  their 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  171 

own  efforts  in  rolling  down  and  crushing  the  tall  stalks  of  the  grasses 
and  the  umbelliferous  plants;  one  will  lie  upon  its  back,  hold  up  its 
hind  flippers  and  lazily  wave  them  about,  while  it  scratches  or  rather 
rubs  its  ribs  with  the  fore  hands  alternately,  the  eyes  being  tightly 
closed  during  the  whole  performance;  the  sensation  is  evidently  so 
luxurious  that  it  does  not  wish  to  have  any  side  issue  draw  off  its 
blissful  self-attention." 

Of  course  as  swimmers  they  carry  off  the  palm.  There  is  no  truth 
that  the  young  pups  are  frequently  drowned.  The  multitudes  of  dead 
pups  seen  floating  in  the  water  are  either  starved  to  death  because 
the  mothers  had  fallen  a  prey  to  the  fishermen  or  they  perished  through 
the  ravages  of  a  parasitic  worm  which  breeds  in  the  filth  of  the  harems. 
They  take  to  the  water  as  naturally  as  any  other  animal.  One  of  the 
great  sports  of  the  young  pups  is  to  roost  on  rocks  awash  with  the 
waves,  where  the  surf  will  sweep  them  away  and  where  they  try  to 
push  one  another  off  and  get  the  better  places.  They  dart  in  the  midst 
of  booming  breakers  and  gambol  on  the  very  crest  of  billows  that  would 
smash  a  whale  ship.  The  bachelors  in  the  sheer  exultation  of  their 
energy  often  leap  completely  out  of  the  water  like  sturgeon.  They 
swim  very  swiftly,  keeping  two  or  three  feet  under  water,  propelling 
themselves  by  their  fore  flippers  and  using  their  hind  ones  as  guiding 
oars.  They  can  stay  under  water  a  surprisingly  long  time  without 
breathing. 

Mr.  Elliott  says :  —  "  All  their  movements  in  water,  whether  they 
are  travelling  to  some  objective  point  or  are  in  sport,  are  quick  and 
joyous;  and  nothing  is  more  suggestive  of  intense  satisfaction  and 
pure  physical  comfort  than  is  that  spectacle  which  we  can  see  every 
August  a  short  distance  out  at  sea  from  any  rookery,  where  thousands 
of  old  males  and  females  are  idly  rolling  over  on  the  billows  side  by 
side,  rubbing  and  scratching  with  their  fore  and  hind  flippers,  which 
are  here  and  there  stuck  up  out  of  the  water  by  their  owners,  like  the 
lateen  sails  of  the  Mediterranean  feluccas,  or,  when  the  hind  flippers 
are  presented,  like  a  cat-o'-nine  tail.  They  sleep  in  the  water  a  great 


172  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

deal,  too,  more  than  is  generally  supposed,  showing  that  they  do  not 
come  on  land  to  rest. ' ' 

.  One  of  the  odd  sights  of  a  voyage  in  the  Bering  waters  is  that  of 
a  female  seal  asleep.  They  turn  on  their  backs,  fold  their  flippers  over 
their  breasts  and  by  curving  their  hind  flippers  up  keep  themselves 
upright  like  a  boat.  Their  nostrils  are  so  formed  that  when  they  have 
breathed  the  walls  tightly  close  and  keep  out  the  water. 

John  Burroughs  speaking  of  the  seal  says :  — "  Lying  there  in 
masses  or  wriggling  about  upon  the  rocks  all  their  lines  soft  and  flow- 
ing, their  motions  hampered,  the  fur-seals  suggested  huge  larvae,  or 
something  between  the  grub  and  the  water  insect.  They  appeared  to 
be  yet  in  a  kind  of  sack  or  envelope.  The  males  wriggle  about  like 
a  man  in  a  bag;  but  once  in  the  water  they  are  a  part  of  the  water, 
as  fleet  and  nimble  as  a  fish,  or  as  a  bird  in  the  air." 

The  gregarious  instincts  of  the  seal  make  the  labor  of  driving  them 
comparatively  slight.  A  few  men  can  keep  the  herd  in  motion.  When 
the  time  arrives  the  whole  population  of  the  village  turns  out  to  take 
part.  Two  men  stationing  themselves  at  opposite  sides  of  the  herd  will 
segregate  twenty  or  thirty  of  the  bachelor  seals,  and,  getting  behind 
them  and  rattling  bones  and  shouting,  drive  them  away  from  the  haul- 
ing ground.  The  young  animals  when  driven  are  as  docile  and  amiable 
as  a  flock  of  sheep.  When  they  reach  the  killing  ground,  which  is  per- 
haps two  or  three  miles  distant,  they  are  allowed  to  rest  themselves 
and  cool  off.  Then  half  a  dozen  or  more  experienced  men  armed  with 
ash  or  hickory  sticks  bound  with  sheet  iron,  called  mamlika,  and  made 
in  New  London,  Connecticut,  club  the  seals,  one  blow  being  generally 
sufficient  to  stun  the  animal.  The  clubbed  seal  is  then  dragged  into  a 
line  and  stabbed  to  the  heart.  The  skinners  come  along  and  strip  off 
the  hide,  spreading  it  evenly  on  the  grass,  flesh  side  down.  The  women 
take  the  carcass  and  remove  such  portions  of  the  blubber  of  fat  as  they 
want.  The  meat  they  dry  and  pack  into  the  dried  stomach  of  the  sea- 
lion  for  future  consumption. 

In  the  old  days  it  was  permitted  by  law  to  take  a  hundred  thousand 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  173 

seals  from  the  Pribilof ;   the  work  of  slaughtering  and  skinning  that 
number  was  accomplished  in  forty  days.    Elliott  says :  — 

"  The  labor  of  skinning  is  excessively  severe,  and  is  trying  even  to 
an  expert,  demanding  long  practice  ere  the  muscles  of  the  back  and 
thighs  are  so  developed  as  to  permit  a  man  to  bend  down  and  finish 
well  a  fair  day's  work.  The  knives  used  by  the  natives  for  skinning 
are  ordinary  kitchen  or  case-handled  butcher  knives.  They  are  sharp- 
ened to  cutting  edges  as  keen  as  razors,  but  something  about  the  skin 
of  the  seal,  perhaps  fine  comminuted  sand  along  the  abdomen,  so  dulls 
these  knives  as  the  natives  work  that  they  are  constantly  obliged  to 
whet  them. 

11  The  body  of  the  seal,  preparatory  to  skinning,  is  rolled  over  and 
balanced  squarely  on  its  back.  Then  the  native  makes  a  single  swift 
cut  through  the  skin  down  along  the  neck,  chest,  and  belly,  from  the 
lower  jaw  to  the  root  of  the  tail,  using  for  this  purpose  his  long  stab- 
bing knife.  The  fore  and  hind  flippers  are  then  successively  lifted  as 
the  man  straddles  the  seal  and  stoops  down  to  this  work  over  it,  and 
a  sweeping  circular  incision  is  made  on  the  skin  just  at  the  point  where 
the  body  fur  ends.  Then,  seizing  a  flap  of  the  hide  on  either  one  side 
or  the  other  of  the  abdomen,  the  man  proceeds,  with  his  smaller,  shorter 
butcher  knife,  rapidly  to  cut  the  skin  clean  and  free  from  the  body  and, 
blubber,  which  he  rolls  over  and  out  from  the  hide  by  hauling  up  on 
it  as  he  advances  with  his  work,  standing  all  this  time  stooped  over 
the  carcass,  so  that  his  hands  are  but  slightly  above  it  or  the  ground. 
This  operation  of  skinning  a  fair-sized  '  holluschak  '  [kholostyak] 
takes  the  best  men  only  one  minute  and  a  half;  but  the  average  time 
made  by  the  gang  on  the  ground  is  about  four  minutes  to  the  seal." 

Although  the  odor  of  the  seal  blubber  is  peculiarly  offensive  to  sen- 
sitive nostrils,  the  meat  of  the  seal  is  quite  appetizing  if  properly  pre- 
pared. 

In  the  old  days  the  skins  were  air  dried,  a  method  which  was  not 
always  effective.  It  is  said  that  in  1803  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand of  such  skins,  accumulated  at  Sitka,  rotted  and  had  to  be  thrown 


174  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

away.  They  are  now  taken  immediately  to  the  salt-house  where  they 
are  piled  up  in  ' '  kenches  ' '  or  bins  with  a  profusion  of  salt  spread  on 
the  flesh  side.  When  they  are  sufficiently  pickled  they  are  tied  up  in 
twos,  the  hair  side  out,  and  are  ready  for  shipment.  Most  of  them 
are  sent  to  London  in  hogsheads  containing  from  twenty  to  forty. 
There  by  a  secret  process  they  are  fashioned  into  the  beautiful  fur 
which  my  lady  wears,  in  the  form  of  a  thousand  dollar  coat,  generally 
to  the  detriment  of  her  health. 

The  seal-killing  takes  place  in  June  and  July.  By  the  end  of  October 
the  rookeries  begin  to  look  deserted,  though  some  old  seals  remain 
in  the  vicinity  very  late  or  even  all  winter.  The  females  strike  di- 
rectly south  and  appear  on  the  coast  of  Southern  California  so  speedily 
that  it  is  believed  they  make  no  stop  on  the  way.  Their  return  on  the 
other  hand  is  slow  as  they  are  then  heavy  with  young.  President  Jor- 
dan says : — 

' '  The  herd  as  a  whole  takes  a  direct  course  through  the  Pacific  Ocean 
obliquely  to  the  coast  of  California.  It  is  probable  that  the  adult  males 
go  no  farther  south  than  the  latitude  of  Cape  Flattery ;  but  the  adult 
females  are  taken  off  the  coast  of  Southern  California  within  two  weeks 
after  their  departure  from  the  islands,  and  hence  their  course  must  be 
direct  and  rapid.  On  their  return  they  move  slowly  back  to  the  Ameri- 
can coast,  reaching  the  passes  about  the  first  of  June,  whither  they  have 
already  been  preceded  by  the  adult  males  and  older  bachelors." 

Another  of  the  interesting  pinniped  inhabitants  of  the  Pribilof 
Islands  is  the  sea-lion.  It  has  an  imposing  presence  and  a  sonorous 
voice,  which,  when  put  forth  at  full  capacity  of  its  lungs  will  drown 
the  booming  of  the  surf.  It  is  much  larger  than  the  fur-seal,  attaining 
a  length  of  ten  or  twelve  feet  and  huge  girth  around  the  shoulders. 
It  is  often  seen  rearing  its  mighty  hulk  on  some  rock  just  above  the 
sea,  and  with  its  tawny  chest  and  grizzly  mane,  its  gleaming  ugly  teeth 
and  sinister  mouth  guarded  by  gristly  lips,  it  is  a  fierce  and  awe-in- 
spiring creature.  Mr.  Elliott  witnessed  a  battle  between  two  old  males. 
He  says :  — 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  175 

"  No  animals  that  I  have  ever  seen  in  combat  presented  a  more 
savage  or  a  more  cruelly  fascinating  sight  than  did  a  brace  of  old  sea- 
lion  bulls  which  met  under  my  eyes  near  the  Garden  Cove  at  St.  George. 
Here  was  a  sea-lion  rookery,  the  outskirts  of  which  I  had  trodden  upon 
for  the  first  time.  These  old  males,  surrounded  by  their  meek  polyga- 
mous families,  were  impelled  toward  each  other  by  those  latent  fires 
of  hate  and  jealousy  which  seemed  to  burst  forth  and  fairly  consume 
the  angry  rivals.  Opening  with  a  long,  round  vocal  prelude,  they  grad- 
ually came  together,  as  the  fur-seals  do,  with  averted  heads,  as  if  the 
sight  of  each  other  was  sickening  —  but  fight  they  must.  One  would 
play  against  the  other  for  an  unguarded  moment  in  which  to  assume 
the  initiative,  until  it  had  struck  its  fangs  into  the  thick  skin  of  its 
opponent's  jowl;  then,  clenching  its  jaws,  was  not  shaken  off  until  the 
struggles  of  its  tortured  victim  literally  tore  them  out,  leaving  an  ugly 
gaping  wound  —  for  the  sharp  eye-teeth  cut  a  deeper  gutter  in  the  skin 
and  flesh  than  would  have  held  my  hand.  Fired  into  an  almost  super- 
natural rage,  the  injured  lion  retaliated  quick  as  a  flash,  in  kind;  the 
hair  flew  from  both  of  them  into  the  air,  the  blood  streamed  down  in 
frothy  torrents,  while  high  above  the  boom  of  the  breaking  waves  and 
shrill,  deafening  screams  of  waterfowl  overhead  rose  the  ferocious, 
hoarse  and  desperate  roar  of  the  combatants." 

Courageous  as  they  are  when  fighting  among  themselves,  Steller 
says  the  males  take  flight  on  the  first  appearance  of  man,  and  if  sur- 
prised in  their  sleep,  are  panic  struck,  sighing  deeply,  and  in  their 
attempt  to  escape  get  quite  confused,  tumble  down  and  tremble  so  much 
that  they  are  scarcely  able  to  move  their  limbs.  The  full  grown  adult 
weighs  more  than  half  a  ton ;  as  is  the  case  with  the  seals,  the  females 
are  much  smaller,  generally  not  half  the  size. 

The  harems  of  the  sea-lion  are  organized  very  much  like  their  smaller 
cousins.  Each  bull  has  from  fifteen  to  twenty  cows  and  aggregating 
in  a  single  rookery  from  five  to  ten  thousand.  They  are  the  most  rest- 
less of  creatures,  "  ever  twisting  and  turning,  coiling  and  uncoiling 
themselves  over  the  rocks,  now  stretched  out  prone  in  slumber,  the 


176  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

next  minute  up  and  moving;  the  roar  of  one  is  instantly  caught  up 
by  another,  so  that  the  aggregate  sound  as  it  rises  and  falls  from  this 
rookery  can  only  be  compared  to  the  hoarse  sound  of  a  tempest  as  it 
howls  through  the  rigging  of  a  ship  "  or  '  *  roaring  in  an  incessant  con- 
cert, making  an  orchestra  to  which  those  deep,  sonorous  tones  in  the 
great  Mormon  tabernacle  at  Salt  Lake  City  constitute  the  fittest  and 
most  adequate  resemblance." 

The  fur  of  the  sea-lion  is  valueless  commercially,  but  the  natives 
make  great  use  of  the  hide  and  indeed  of  the  whole  animal.  They 
take  advantage  of  a  night  when  the  moon  is  partially  obscured  and 
crawl  along  between  the  sentinels  and  the  sea.  Then  at  a  given  signal 
they  all  leap  to  their  feet  making  the  greatest  possible  din  with  shouts 
and  yells  and  the  discharge  of  pistols.  The  sea-lions  frightened  out 
of  their  sleep,  start  off  in  the  direction  in  which  they  happen  to  be 
lying.  A  few  jump  over  the  cliff,  others  charge  for  the  higher  land 
where,  being  guided  by  the  prodding  natives,  they  are  corraled  in  a 
circular  cage  made  of  stakes  adorned  with  fluttering  flags  and  stuck 
into  the  ground  ten  or  twenty  feet  apart  and  connected  by  strips  of 
cotton  cloth  and  a  thong  of  hide.  This  almost  imaginary  prison  serves 
to  keep  them ;  they  make  no  attempt  to  escape.  When  a  herd  or  pod 
of  two  or  three  hundred  have  been  thus  captured  they  are  driven  to 
their  destination,  which  may  be  ten  or  eleven  miles  away,  the  process 
taking  from  five  days  to  three  weeks,  the  natives  allowing  them  to  rest 
from  time  to  time,  and  then  stimulating  them  again  to  action  by  clap- 
ping boards  and  bones,  rapping  sticks  on  the  rocks,  firing  fuses  and 
waving  flags  or  cotton  umbrellas.  The  killing  of  the  old  bulls  is  done 
with  a  rifle-shot,  fired  between  the  eye  and  the  ear.  The  cows  are 
speared. 

When  the  skins  have  been  unhaired  by  sweating  they  are  sewed  to- 
gether and  stretched  over  a  light  frame-work,  and  this  constitutes  the 
native  kyak  or  bidarka.  The  intestine  pulled  out  to  its  full  length 
of  sixty  feet  or  more  is  made  into  the  water-tight  kamlaika,  the  most 
useful  garment  they  possess.  The  throats  are  made  into  boot-tops, 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  177 

the  flippers  into  soles.  The  meat  of  the  young  sea-lion  tastes  like  veal. 
The  tough  whiskers  are  greatly  prized  by  the  Chinese,  who  use  them 
as  pickers  for  their  opium  pipes. 

When  the  Russians  first  took  possession  of  the  Pribilof  Islands  they 
were  the  resort  of  multitudes  of  walrus;  now  their  haunt  is  on  the 
small  island  already  described.  Gesner,  in  1558,  declared  that  the  fish 
called  Rosmarii  or  Morsii  had  heads  fashioned  like  an  ox  and  "  a  hairy 
skin,  the  hair  growing  as  thick  as  straw  or  corn-reeds,  that  lie  loose 
very  largely."  He  says:  —  "  They  will  raise  themselves  with  their 
teeth,  as  by  ladders,  to  the  very  tops  of  rocks  that  they  may  feed  upon 
the  dewie  grasse,  or  fresh  water,  and  roll  themselves  in  it,  and  go  then 
to  the  sea  again,  unless  in  the  meantime  they  fall  very  fast  asleep,  and 
rest  upon  the  rocks,  for  then  the  fishermen  make  all  the  haste  they 
can,  and  begin  at  the  tail,  and  part  the  skin  from  the  fat;  and  into 
this  that  is  parted  they  put  most  strong  cords,  and  fasten  them  on  the 
rugged  rocks  or  trees  that  are  near,  and  then  they  throw  stones  at  his 
head,  out  of  a  sling,  to  raise  him,  and  they  compel  him  to  descend 
spoiled  of  the  greatest  part  of  his  skin  which  is  fastened  to  the  ropes ; 
he  being  thereby  debilitated,  fearful  and  half  dead,  is  made  a  rich 
prey,  especially  for  his  teeth  which  are  very  precious  among  the  Scyth- 
ians, the  Muscovites,  Russians  and  Tartars  (as  ivory  amongst  the 
Indians)  by  reason  of  their  harness,  whitenesse  and  ponderousnesse. " 

James  Cartier  in  1534  mentioned  having  met  "  very  greate  beastes 
as  greate  as  oxen,  which  have  two  great  teeth  in  their  mouths  like  unto 
elephants  and  live  also  in  the  sea."  Captain  Cook  gave  a  vivid  de- 
scription of  the  Pacific  walrus  as  he  saw  the  creature  in  its  pristine 
abundance : — 

*  *  They  lie  in  herds  of  many  hundreds  upon  the  ice,  huddling  one  over 
the  other  like  swine,  and  roar  or  bay  very  loud,  so  that  in  the  night 
or  in  foggy  weather  they  gave  us  notice  of  the  vicinity  of  the  ice  before 
we  could  see  it.  We  never  found  the  whole  herd  asleep,  some  being 
always  on  the  watch.  These,  on  the  approach  of  the  boat,  would  wake 
those  next  to  them,  and  the  alarm  being  thus  gradually  communicated, 


178  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

the  whole  herd  would  be  awake  presently.  But  they  were  seldom  in 
a  hurry  to  get  away  till  after  they  had  once  been  fired  at,  when  they 
would  tumble  one  over  the  other  into  the  sea  in  the  utmost  confusion, 
and  if  we  did  not  at  the  first  discharge  kill  those  we  fired  at  we  gen- 
erally lost  them,  though  mortally  wounded.  They  did  not  appear  to 
be  that  dangerous  animal  some  authors  have  described,  not  even  when 
attacked.  They  are  rather  more  so  in  appearance  than  in  reality. 

*  *  Vast  number  of  them  would  follow,  and  some  come  close  up  to  the 
boats,  but  the  flash  of  a  musket  in  the  pan,  or  even  the  bare  pointing 
of  one  at  them,  would  send  them  down  in  an  instant. ' ' 

They  seem  to  be  more  awkward  and  clumsy,  both  on  land  and  in 
the  water,  as  well  as  more  slothful  than  the  seals  and  sea-lions.  The 
young  are  hairy,  but  the  old  ones  have  a  skin  covered  with  warts  or 
pimples,  wrinkled  and  flabby  and  utterly  disgusting.  On  the  land  it 
is  almost  helpless  because  of  its  bulk  —  some  of  them  are  twelve  feet 
long  and  weigh  almost  a  ton  —  contrasted  with  its  ineffectual  limbs. 
It  swims  under  water;  when  it  comes  to  the  surface  it  blows  like  a 
whale.  It  is  not  true  that  it  uses  its  tusks  as  landing  hooks !  Like  the 
seal  and  sea-lion  its  vision  is  feeble  but  its  sense  of  hearing  acute.  The 
hide  is  very  thick,  in  some  places  three  inches.  It  feeds  on  crustaceans 
in  contradistinction  to  the  seal,  in  whose  stomach  no  shell  fish  is  said 
ever  to  have  been  found,  and  the  long  white  tusks  are  supposed  to  be 
used  for  digging  clams  in  the  estuaries  of  the  North.  The  walrus  is 
said  by  the  natives  to  be  monogamous ;  the  mother  is  so  strongly  at- 
tached to  her  young  that  she  will  defend  it  with  her  life  —  in  strong 
contrast  to  the  carelessness  of  the  seal  which  never  lavishes  any  affec- 
tion or  very  little  care  on  the  pup.  The  Eskimos  used  to  kill  an  average 
of  ten  thousand  a  year  up  to  1867,  and  as  their  habitat  is  near  the  shal- 
low shore  where  fishing  fleets  can  not  easily  reach  them  there  is  no 
great  likelihood  of  the  natives  ever  being  deprived  of  this  valuable 
source  of  livelihood.  * '  The  walrus  to  the  Eskimo, ' '  says  Elliott,  ' '  an- 
swers just  as  the  cocoa  palm  does  to  the  South  Sea  islander;  it  feeds 
him,  it  clothes  him,  it  heats  and  illuminates  his  '  igloo,'  and  it  arms 


SEALS,    SEA -LIONS    AND    WALRUS.  179 

him  for  the  chase,  while  he  builds  his  summer  shelter  and  rides  upon 
the  sea  by  virtue  of  its  hide. ' ' 

Elliott  who  tasted  walrus  meat  on  St.  Lawrence  Island  declares  it 
was  worse  than  beaver's  tail,  or  tough  brown  bear  steak,  in  fact  worse 
than  any  flesh  he  had  ever  eaten :  —  "  It  has  a  strong  flavor  of  an 
indefinite  acrid  nature,  which  turned  my  palate  and  my  stomach  in- 
stantaneously and  simultaneously,  while  the  surprised  natives  stared 
in  bewildered  silence  at  their  astonished  and  disgusted  guest.  They, 
however,  put  chunks  two  inches  square,  and  even  larger,  of  this  flesh 
and  blubber  into  their  mouths  as  rapidly  as  the  storage  room  there 
would  permit  —  and  with  what  grimy  gusto  —  the  corners  of  their 
large  lips  dripping  with  the  fatness  of  their  feeding!  How  little  they 
thought  then  that  in  a  few  short  seasons  they  would  die  of  starvation 
sitting  in  those  same  *  igloos  '  —  their  caches  empty  and  nothing  but 
endless  fields  of  barren  ice  where  the  life-giving  sea  should  be.  The 
winter  of  1879  -  80  was  one  of  exceptional  rigor  in  the  Arctic,  although 
in  the  United  States  it  was  unusually  mild  and  open.  The  ice  closed 
in  solid  around  St.  Lawrence  Island  —  so  firm  and  unshaken  by  the 
giant  leverage  of  wind  and  tide  that  the  walruses  were  driven  far  to 
the  southward  and  eastward  beyond  the  reach  of  the  unhappy  inhab- 
itants of  that  island,  who,  thus  unexpectedly  deprived  of  their  main- 
stay and  support,  seem  to  have  miserably  starved  to  death,  with  the 
exception  of  one  small  village  on  the  north  shore. ' '  In  1907  only  nine- 
teen walrus  hides  were  shipped  out  of  Alaska. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Pribilof  are  Aleutians  who  were  colonized 
there  by  the  Eussian  fur-company  and  have  ever  since  maintained  a 
monopoly  of  killing  and  treating  the  seals.  When  they  came  into  the 
hands  of  the  United  States  the  successors  of  the  Eussian  Company, 
the  so-called  Alaska  Commercial  Company,  pursued  the  same  policy 
toward  the  natives,  but  seem  to  have  treated  the  natives  more  gen- 
erously. In  1874  they  paid  the  inhabitants  forty  cents  a  skin  for  taking 
and  curing  and  in  addition  forty  cents  apiece  for  sea-lion  skins,  ten 
cents  for  their  throats  and  five  dollars  a  barrel  for  their  intestines. 


180  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

They  also  furnished  the  natives  with  comfortable  houses,  with  school 
instruction  and  medical  attendance.  Their  earnings  were  so  large  as 
to  make  them  the  most  prosperous  of  all  the  Aleutians,  though  as  their 
work  all  came  concentrated  in  two  months  and  the  rest  of  the  year 
was  practically  spent  in  idleness,  they  vegetated,  mentally  and  physi- 
cally, but  as  they  cannot  get  liquor  and  are  essentially  law-abiding 
they  are  not  unhappy.  Card-playing,  tea-drinking,  attendance  at  the 
Eussian  church  which  is  still  maintained,  the  playing  of  musical  instru- 
ments, and  sleeping,  were  their  chief  occupation.  Since  the  diminution 
of  the  rookeries  and  the  reduction  of  the  annual  killing  from  a  hundred 
thousand  to  only  a  few  thousand  they  have  suffered  from  actual  pov- 
erty and  the  United  States  is  likely  to  be  called  upon  to  support  them. 
Small  and  insignificant  as  are  the  Pribilof  Islands  in  comparison 
with  the  rest  of  Alaska  they  certainly  by  reason  of  their  inhabitants, 
marine  and  feathered,  as  well  as  human,  and  the  enormous  interests 
concentrated  there,  yield  in  no  respect  to  any  place  in  that  whole  vast 
territory. 


CHAPTER   XVII, 

SITKA. 

SINCE  we  are  travelling  by  imagination  we  may  have  any  kind  of 
a  conveyance  and  we  may  instantly  transport  ourselves  back  to 
Juneau  and  take  another  trip  along  the  coast.  This  time  we 
shall  stop  at  Sitka,  situated  on  the  southwesterly  side  of  Baranof  Island, 
and  about  a  hundred  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  Juneau.  It  is  reached 
by  the  inland  passage  and  is  enchantingly  situated  against  a  back- 
ground of  beautiful  wooded  mountains  with  its  harbor  gleaming  blue 
and  purple  amid  a  multitude  of  lovely  islands.  As  the  tourist  ap- 
proaches the  town  by  either  of  the  three  possible  passages,  threading 
these  beautiful  passages  around  rugged  points,  the  eye  catches  sight 
of  the  Russo-Greek  cathedral  church  of  St.  Michael,  sacred  to  the  mem- 
ory of  the  saintly  Veniaminof.  It  stands  in  full  sight  from  the  sea 
and  seems  to  give  promise  of  a  foreign  city  —  with  its  green  roof,  its 
big  clock,  its  peculiar  balloon-shaped  spire  surmounted  by  the  Greek 
cross,  and  its  octagonal  belfry  with  the  six  bells  sent  from  Moscow 
hanging  each  in  its  arch. 

On  landing  one  is  faced  by  the  old  Russian  storehouse,  an  enormous 
log  structure  which  stands  between  the  wharf  and  the  town.  Along 
the  interminable  passage  and  at  both  ends  squat  the  gray-blanketed 
Indian  women  offering  all  sorts  of  trinkets  and  curios.  Some  are 
beautiful  and  artistic,  others  are  simply  barbarous  and  crude.  There 
are  baskets  brought  from  far  Attu,  a  thousand  miles  to  the  westward 
where  West  has  become  East,  great  horn  spoons  carved  by  the  Haidas 
from  the  antlers  of  mountain  sheep  or  goats ;  gaudy  bead  moccasins, 
gayly  painted  cedar  or  pine  canoes  and  paddles,  miniature  totem-poles, 
carved  out  of  wood  or  jade,  wooden  lamps  inlaid  with  shells  and  made 

181 


182  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

to  look  like  prehistoric  beasts,  all  sorts  of  silver  adornments,  especially 
the  Alaska  totem-spoon  designed  by  Lieutenant  Schwatka  and  made  by 
native  jewellers,  Chilkat  blankets,  carved  and  polished  gambling  imple- 
ments and  ancestral  weapons.  They  are  shrewd  dealers  and  the 
stranger  is  quite  likely  to  be  well  taken  in. 

It  is  only  a  few  steps  from  the  wharf  to  the  Russian  church,  and 
having  paid  the  admission  fee  of  fifty  cents  one  is  allowed  to  see  its 
treasures :  —  the  ikonostas  adorned  with  its  sacred  pictures  or  images 
in  costly  frames  of  chased  silver  and  gold.  Above  the  magnificent  cen- 
tral gate  made  of  elaborate  bronze  is  a  beautifully  painted  represen- 
tation of  the  Ascension  which  was  formerly  in  the  Lutheran  church 
built  in  1840,  but  now  torn  down.  The  ikon  of  the  patron  saint  was 
rescued  from  a  Eussian  vessel  wrecked  just  at  the  entrance  of  Sitka 
harbor.  The  vestments  used  by  the  clergy,  many  of  them  woven  bro- 
cades of  gold  and  silver,  the  gifts  of  old  Baranof,  are  well  worth  in- 
specting. The  ikon  exhibited  in  the  chapel  dedicated  to  "  our  Lady 
of  Kazan  "  is  studded  with  jewels.  An  offer  of  fifteen  thousand  dol- 
lars has  been  refused  for  it.  There  are  also  fine  baptismal  bowls  and 
ornate  crowns  used  for  weddings,  censers  of  beautifully  modelled  sil- 
ver, missals  with  jewelled  and  enamelled  covers.  The  Bible  had  silver 
covers  weighing  twenty-seven  pounds.  It  was  stolen  by  discharged 
United  States  soldiers  together  with  other  valuables,  a  part  of  which 
were  afterwards  recovered  badly  mutilated.  The  chapel  of  St.  Mary 
is  used  for  winter  services :  it  is  rendered  notable  by  a  wonderful  ikon 
representing  the  Madonna  and  Child. 

At  the  building  occupied  by  the  Russian  Orthodox  Mission  may  be 
seen  interesting  relics,  Bishop  Veniaminof's  clock,  his  writing-desk, 
which  he  made  with  his  own  hands,  and  a  beautiful  ikon  presented  by 
the  Princess  Potemkin.  Other  buildings  belonging  to  the  Church  are 
on  the  north  side  of  the  cathedral.  On  the  south  side  is  a  ponderous 
log  building  occupied  now  as  a  general  storehouse  but  formerly  the 
head-offices  of  the  Russian- American  Fur  Company.  How  many  mil- 
lions' worth  of  precious  furs  have  been  stored  there  in  the  palmy  days 


SITKA.  183 

of  that  industry!  A  building  at  the  corner  of  quadrangle  was  used 
successively  as  the  club  of  the  Russian  officers  and  then  for  a  similar 
purpose  by  the  United  States  garrison. 

There  is  a  museum  of  Alaskan  curiosities  founded  by  Mr.  Sheldon 
Jackson.  The  fees  for  admission  help  support  it. 

Before  the  days  of  the  California  gold-fever,  the  Sitka  ship-yards  and 
foundries  were  busy  places,  being  the  only  industries  of  that  sort  on 
the  Pacific  coast.  Many  of  the  bells  of  the  California  missions  were 
cast  there.  Here  was  built  the  famous  pug-nosed  side-wheeler,  the 
PolitJcovsky,  of  solid  cedar  planking  four  inches  thick  hewed  from 
immense  logs  and  fastened  with  copper  spikes  beaten  from  virgin  placer 
metal.  She  carried  fourteen  iron  and  two  brass  cannon  and  copper 
boilers  three-fourths  of  an  inch  thick.  The  final  ceremonies  of  the 
transfer  of  Alaska  were  consummated  on  board  of  the  Politkovs'ky 
amid  the  impressive  chanting  and  intoning  of  the  Russian  clergy 
dressed  in  their  most  gorgeous  robes.  Her  brass  cannon  fired  the  last 
salute  and  the  enormous  dark  bronze  whistle,  for  years  the  largest  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  which  is  still  preserved  as  a  sacred  relic,  blew  a  long 
drawn  blast.  It  was  on  exhibition  at  the  Seattle  exposition.  This  his- 
toric ship,  passing  through  various  hands  and  vicissitudes,  but  always 
in  Alaskan  waters,  was  finally  wrecked  in  1908  while  doing  service  as 
a  lighter. ' 

The  rocky  promontory  where  Baranof  had  his  clash  with  the  Thlin- 
kits  is  now  occupied  by  the  home  of  the  director  of  the  government  agri- 
cultural department.  It  is  reached  by  a  long  flight  of  wooden  steps. 
On  the  hill  is  the  Russian  cemetery  overlooking  Swan  Lake.  Here 
are  buried  many  pioneers.  What  life-tragedies  here  came  to  the  same 
peaceful  ending!  In  one  corner  rests  the  remains  of  Prince  Matsu- 
kof 's  English  wife,  whose  hospitalities  were  enjoyed  by  many  Amer- 
ican and  English  visitors. 

By  an  executive  proclamation  in  1890  a  strip  of  land  five  hundred 
feet  wide  on  the  right  bank  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Indian  River,  called  by  the  Russians  the  Kolosh- 


184  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

chinkaya  Betcha,  has  been  forever  reserved  as  a  park.  It  extends  from 
the  picturesque  falls  to  the  mouth  of  the  river.  This  and  the  public 
garden  back  of  the  cathedral  and  parade-ground  sloping  to  the  water 
give  Sitka  abundant  outing-places.  The  park  is  universally  admired. 
It  abounds  in  splendid  cedars,  and  other  great  Alaskan  trees;  near 
the  falls  formerly  stood  a  cedar  which  was  ten  feet  in  diameter.  There 
are  thickets  of  salmon-berry  and  other  delicious  fruit  bushes ;  the  dev- 
il 's  club  here  attains  a  height  of  twenty  feet ;  in  the  summer  multitudes 
of  beautiful  flowers  fill  the  air  with  fragrance.  Enchanting  paths, 
admirably  kept,  lead  down  to  the  river,  and  when  one  reaches  the  beach 
one  suddenly  comes  upon  a  small  grove  of  totems  erected  amid  the  green 
spruce  trees.  Here  are  the  graves  of  Lisyansky's  men  who  were  mur- 
dered by  the  Indians  in  1804.  Baranof  's  favorite  seat  on  the  great 
stone  near  the  beach  is  still  pointed  out.  It  is  called  the  Blarney  stone 
and  people  who  kiss  it  are  supposed  to  be  granted  persuasive  eloquence. 
There  is  a  Russian  inscription  carved  upon  it  and  many  names  of  visit- 
ing ships  have  been  there  recorded.  If  stones  had  the  eloquence 
ascribed  to  them  by  Shakespeare  what  fascinating  tales  that  great 
boulder  could  relate  of  days  long  past ! 

Although  Sitka  has  lost  its  importance  since  the  seat  of  government 
was  transferred  to  Juneau,  it  is  still  the  most  interesting  town  in  Alaska 
and  is  fairly  prosperous,  though  curiously  enough  its  name  is  not  given 
in  the  Governor's  report  for  1908  among  the  incorporated  towns,  and 
not  a  vessel  of  noticeable  tonnage  either  entered  or  cleared  in  its  har- 
bor during  the  two  years  previous.  In  1908  there  were  sixty  pupils 
in  the  Sitkan  schools.  One  of  the  most  useful  of  these  institutions  is 
the  Industrial  Training  School,  which  was  founded  by  the  Missionary- 
Governor,  John  G.  Brady,  a  third  of  a  century  ago.  Both  boys  and 
girls  of  native  stock  attend  and  are  educated  to  become  self-supporting ; 
the  boys  learn  boat-building,  carpentry,  rope-making,  agriculture  and 
other  useful  trades.  The  girls  are  taught  cooking,  sewing,  laundry- 
work  and  the  like.  The  language  spoken  is  English. 

Though  the  climate  of  Sitka  is  mild  and  very  equable,  there  is  a  great 


SITKA.  187 

rainfall  and  the  paucity  of  sunny  days  in  summer  tends  to  check  the 
ripening  of  vegetables.  Nevertheless,  cabbage  and  cauliflower,  pota- 
toes and  the  common  "  garden  truck  "  generally  do  well.  Mr.  Brady 
in  1878  declared  that  probably  there  was  not  another  spot  on  the  globe 
where  the  same  number  of  people  did  so  little  manual  labor  and  were 
so  well-fed  as  at  Sitka.  He  pointed  out  that  the  Sitkan  natives  had 
good  minds  and  were  susceptible  of  a  high  state  of  culture.  The  pure 
Thlinkits  formerly  looked  down  upon  the  Sitkan  Indians,  who  were  of 
mixed  stock.  The  Indian  village  has  been  of  late  years  greatly  trans- 
formed and  as  long  ago  as  1892  every  one  of  the  great  communal  lodges 
had  been  destroyed.  The  population  is  now  comparatively  small.  The 
name  Sitka  is  said  to  mean  mountain-village  and  certainly  that  is  ap- 
propriate. Mr.  George  Broke  declares  the  view  from  the  Sitka' cita- 
del somewhat  resembles  that  of  the  Bay  of  Naples,  but  with  the  addi- 
tional charm  of  snow  mountains  and  small  glaciers. 

An  interesting  excursion  from  Sitka  is  to  follow  the  old  trail  to  the 
summit  of  Verstovoi,  which  from  its  height  of  three  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  sixteen  feet  affords  a  magnificent  view  of  the  islands  toward 
the  Pacific,  of  the  Baranof  Mountains,  Silver  Bay,  Sitka  and  even 
Mt.  Fairweather,  one  hundred  miles  away.  Above  eight  hundred  feet 
the  view  is  unobstructed  by  underbrush.  The  name  Arrow  Head,  which 
is  sometimes  applied  to  the  mountain,  arises  from  a  peculiar  triangle 
of  rock  which  lies  on  one  side. 

From  that  height  one  can  get  an  idea  of  the  variety  of  excursions 
possible  from  Sitka  among  the  harbor  islands.  Opposite  the  Indian 
village  is  Japonsky,  which  is  about  a  mile  long  and  half  a  mile  wide 
and  originally  the  site  of  a  large  native  village.  Here  in  1805  a  Jap- 
anese junk  was  wrecked  and  hence  the  name.  It  is  now  used  for  coal- 
sheds  and  a  powder  magazine.  Harbor  Island  is  south  of  Japonsky 
and  contains  a  number  of  Indian  caches.  On  one  side  of  the  ship  chan- 
nel is  Kutkan,  where  lived  an  Indian  chief  who  related  to  Bishop  Veni- 
aminof  many  of  the  myths  and  legends  which  he  chronicled. 

Signal  Island  was  utilized  in  Baranof 's  time  for  establishing  the 


188  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

lighted  bonfires  announcing  the  arrival  of  a  ship  as  a  guidance  for  the 
pilot.  The  ship  arriving  would  fire  a  gun  and  then  would  flash  out 
the  signals,  answered  by  a  bonfire  on  the  citadel  roof. 

On  the  east  side  of  Baranof  Island  are  situated  the  White  Sulphur 
Hot  Springs,  of  which  there  are  four,  and  it  is  an  all  day's  canoe  trip 
to  go  and  return.  The  canoe  threads  its  way  through  fascinating  in- 
tricate passages.  The  water  is  impregnated  with  sulphur,  chloride 
of  iron  and  magnesia  —  not  to  say  with  heat !  An  egg  may  be  boiled 
in  the  largest  of  the  springs,  which  has  a  temperature  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty-five  degrees.  A  second  spring  has  a  temperature  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two.  The  Indians  knew  of  the  virtues  of  these  foun- 
tains and  used  to  go  there  and  soak  for  hours  at  a  time  in  the  water; 
the  bay  where  they  are  situated  was  neutral  ground.  Lisyansky  dis- 
covered them  in  1805.  Sir  George  Simpson  visited  them  in  1842.  In 
1852  the  natives,  resenting  the  possession  of  the  springs  by  any  one, 
their  own  unwritten  law  forbidding  settlements  or  claims,  burnt  all 
the  buildings  and  drove  the  inmates  into  the  woods.  The  invalids  thus 
routed  out  in  the  middle  of  winter  managed  to  cross  the  mountains 
to  Sitka  in  safety.  After  the  United  States  Government  took  posses- 
sion there  was  a  stockaded  post  with  hospital,  chapel,  residences,  and 
gardens.  The  vegetation  there  is  of  exceptional  luxuriance.  After 
the  withdrawal  of  the  troops  the  natives  again  burnt  the  settlement. 
The  baths  are  now  come  into  possession  of  private  persons  and  are 
accordingly  exploited  instead  of  being  reserved  for  public  use  as  should 
have  been  the  case. 

The  mountains  behind  the  bay  are  full  of  wild  game  —  black-tailed 
bears  and  deer,  and  the  streams  abound  in  trout.  The  hunter  is  in 
turn  hunted  by  the  ever-ferocious  mosquito,  whose  assaults  justify  the 
Thlinkit  legend  that  it  was  originally  a  giant  spider,  which,  when  caught 
by  an  evil  spirit  and  flung  into  the  fire,  escaped,  though  shrivelled  in 
size,  bearing  in  its  mouth  a  coal  to  torment  mankind  with. 

From  the  Hot  Springs  hillside  is  obtained  a  magnificent  view  of  the 
volcanic  Mount  Edgecumbe.  Mount  Edgecumbe,  called  by  the  natives 


SITKA.  189 

Thigh  or  the  Sleeper,  is  situated  in  Kruzof  Island.  It  was  first  called 
San  Jacinto  or  St.  Hyacinth,  but  Cook  renamed  it.  Crossing  waters 
often  rough  and  foggy  one  lands  on  the  farther  side  of  Sitka  Sound, 
and  then  has  a  tramp  through  swamps  and  forest  land  for  several 
miles  to  the  base  of  the  mountain.  Two  Kadiak  hunters  climbed  it 
in  1804  and  reported  the  crater  filled  with  water.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  in  eruption  during  that  year.  Since  then  it  has  been  climbed  many 
times,  more  than  once  by  women.  Steam  and  the  smell  of  sulphur 
show  that  fires  are  not  far  below.  On  the  Camel's  Hump,  of  which 
Edgecumbe  is  only  a  parasitic  cone,  is  a  still  larger  crater,  from  the 
mouth  of  which  not  so  many  centuries  ago  poured  the  lavas  which 
formed  the  island.  Edgecumbe  was  the  home  of  the  famed  Thunder 
Bird. 

The  voyage  from  Juneau  or  Sitka  northwest  to  Prince  William  Sound 
is  in  some  respects  the  crowning  experience  of  Alaskan  travel.  From 
Juneau  one  passes  the  famous  Glacier  Bay  which  was  for  years  the 
cynosure  of  all  eyes.  Into  it  poured  nine  living  glaciers,  of  which 
the  one  named  after  Dr.  John  Muir  and  poetically  described  by  him, 
was  the  greatest  and  most  typical.  It  was  about  three  miles  wide  and 
three  hundred  feet  high,  sweeping  down  from  mountains  rising  to  a 
height  of  fifteen  thousand  feet.  The  face  of  the  glacier  in  the  sun  had 
the  color  of  aquamarine  and  from  its  multitudinous  crystal  pinnacles 
were  reflected  all  the  hues  of  the  rainbow.  As  the  glacier  moved  sea- 
ward at  the  rate  of  more  than  sixty  feet  a  day,  from  time  to  time  enor- 
mous icebergs  fell  off  into  the  water  with  a  thundering  crash  which 
went  echoing  from  one  side  of  the  bay  to  the  other.  Early  in  1890  a 
great  earthquake  occurred,  shattering  its  crystalline  front  and  so  cho- 
king the  whole  bay  with  its  debris  that  no  ship  could  approach  within 
fifteen  miles.  In  the  year  1908  it  was  found  to  be  once  more  accessible 
and  since  then  steamships  have  approached  as  formerly.  When  Miss 
Scidmore  saw  it  for  the  last  time  she  said :  —  "  The  whole  brow  was 
transfigured  with  the  fires  of  sunset;  the  blue  and  silvery  pinnacles, 
the  white  and  shining  front  floating  dreamlike  on  a  roseate  and  amber 


190  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

sea,  and  the  range  and  circle  of  dull  violet  mountains  lifting  their  glow- 
ing summits  into  a  sky  flecked  with  crimson  and  gold. ' ' 

But  the  glaciers  in  this  bay,  enormous  and  wonderful  as  they  are, 
do  not  begin  to  exhaust  the  possibilities  of  the  phenomena  in  marvel- 
lous Alaska.  There  are  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  seventy  that 
are  important  enough  to  be  named,  and  it  is  estimated  that  nine- 
tenths  of  the  ice  of  this  continent  is  contained  in  the  region  extending 
north  to  the  Wrangel  Range  and  west  to  the  Kenai  Peninsula,  an  area 
of  fifty  thousand  square  miles.  Beginning  at  the  Cross  Sound,  which 
separates  Chitchgof  Island  from  the  mainland,  begins  the  stupendous 
Coast  Eange  of  mountains  from  which  most  of  these  glaciers  descend. 
Above  Icy  Point  La  Perouse  rises  to  a  height  of  ten  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  forty  feet.  Then  comes  Lituya,  whose  dazzling  top  looks 
down  from  a  height  of  eleven  thousand  eight  hundred  and  thirty-two 
feet  on  the  only  bay  on  that  long  stretch  of  coast.  Even  that  has  a 
dangerous  entrance  as  the  tide  sweeps  in  with  a  swift  bore.  Here  in 
1786  the  French  navigator  lost  two  boat-loads  of  men,  twenty-one  in 
all,  who  were  overturned  in  the  icy  waters  and  drowned.  He  erected  a 
monument  to  their  memory  on  a  small  island  called  He  de  Cenotaphe. 
Their  names  were  enrolled  and  buried  in  a  bottle  with  an  account  of 
the  disaster.  La  Perouse  described  the  inhabitants  of  Lituya  Bay 
as  treacherous  and  thievish.  They  were  crazy  to  obtain  iron  and  were 
willing  to  barter  furs  and  fish  for  the  precious  metal.  He  was  scan- 
dalized at  the  filthy  habits  of  the  natives  and  especially  disgusted  at 
the  ugliness  of  the  women,  enhanced  by  their  mutilating  themselves 
with  labrets. 

When  Captain  Dixon,  whose  harbor  lies  to  the  south  of  Icy  Cape, 
was  there  a  year  later  he  did  not  find  the  women  so  very  terrible.  He 
gives  a  pleasant  description  of  them  and  tells  how  he  persuaded  one 
of  them  to  wash  the  paint  from  her  face.  He  says  that  then  "  her 
countenance  had  all  the  cheerful  glow  of  an  English  milkmaid's;  and 
the  healthy  red  which  suffused  her  cheeks  was  even  beautifully  con- 
trasted with  the  white  of  her  neck;  her  eyes  were  black  and  sparkling; 


SITKA.  191 

her  eyebrows  of  the  same  color  and  most  beautifully  arched ;  her  fore- 
head so  remarkably  clear  that  the  translucent  veins  were  seen  meander- 
ing even  in  their  minutest  branches  —  in  short  she  would  be  consid- 
ered handsome  even  in  England." 

La  Perouse  himself  was  upset  in  the  bay  by  the  tidal  wave  from  an 
iceberg  falling  into  the  water.  All  the  navigators  who  have  visited 
the  bay  have  remarked  on  the  wonders  of  the  glaciers,  of  which  there 
are  at  least  five  active  ones.  Dr.  Dall  described  the  bay  as  "  a  sort 
of  Yosemite  Valley,  retaining  the  glaciers  and  with  its  floor  submerged 
six  or  eight  hundred  feet."  The  natives  have  a  legend  to  the  effect 
that  two  men  in  the  shape  of  bears  sit  on  either  side  of  the  entrance 
holding  a  sail  cloth  just  below  the  surface  and  when  a  canoeman  ap- 
pears toss  him  furiously  into  the  air.  About  forty  miles  beyond  Lituya 
Bay  is  Dry  Bay,  the  shallow  delta  of  the  Alsek  Eiver,  which  rises  near 
the  source  of  the  Chilkat  and  flows  in  a  precipitous  course  behind  Mt. 
Fairweather,  crowded  with  salmon.  It  has  been  explored  from  mouth 
to  source.  Lieutenant  Emmons  made  the  crossing  from  bay  to  bay  on 
land.  Mt.  Fairweather  rises  as  it  were  perpendicularly  from  the  sea  to- 
a  height  of  fifteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  feet. 

The  next  indentation  is  Yakutat  Bay,  two  hundred  and  fifteen  miles 
from  Sitka.  Cook  and  Vancouver  called  it  Bering  Bay ;  Dixon  dubbed 
it  Admiralty  Bay  and  La  Perouse  affixed  to  it  the  name  of  Monti.  For- 
tunately the  native  name  has  been  preserved.  There  are  a  number  of 
islands  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  bay  but  the  mouth  is  unobstructed 
and  the  full  force  of  the  Pacific,  here  hardly  deserving  of  that  name, 
is  likely  to  sweep  into  it,  rendering  entrance  difficult  and  dangerous, 
especially  as  it  is  likely  to  be  more  or  less  blocked  by  floating  ice.  At 
Port  Mulgrave  there  is  a  good  harbor  with  a  Moravian  Mission  sup- 
ported by  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Church.  Here  Baranof  endeavored 
to  establish  a  convict  colony.  Shelikof,  at  whose  instance  he  landed 
there,  gave  him  some  admirable  instructions.  He  said:  —  "  Use  taste 
as  well  as  practical  judgment  in  locating  the  settlement.  Look  to  beauty 
as  well  as  to  convenience  of  material  and  supplies.  On  the  plan,  as 


192  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

well  as  in  reality,  leave  room  for  spacious  squares  for  public  assemblies. 
Make  the  streets  not  too  long,  but  wide,  and  let  them  radiate  from  the 
squares.  If  the  site  is  wooded,  let  trees  enough  stand  to  line  the  streets 
and  to  fill  the  gardens,  in  order  to  beautify  the  place  and  preserve 
a  healthy  atmosphere.  Build  the  houses  along  the  streets,  but  at  some 
distance  from  one  another,  in  order  to  increase  the  extent  of  the  town. 
The  roofs  should  be  of  equal  height,  and  the  architecture  as  uniform 
as  possible.  The  gardens  should  be  of  equal  size  and  provided  with 
good  fences  along  the  streets." 

A  post  and  fortifications  were  erected  and  several  ships  were  built, 
but  the  farming  industry,  which  it  was  hoped  to  establish,  was  hardly 
suited  to  that  locality.  Many  of  the  settlers  died  and  the  rest  were 
massacred  by  the  Thlinkits  in  1805.  In  the  old  days,  when  there  were 
a  greater  number  of  Indians,  they  used  to  come  out  in  canoes,  singing, 
and  paddle  ceremoniously  round  any  visiting  ship.  They  would  bring 
their  wares  to  exchange  for  articles  of  iron  and  for  white  men's  ap- 
parel. 

Gold  was  discovered  along  the  beaches  of  Yakutat  Bay  in  1880  and 
the  miners  for  a  time  were  able  to  extract  as  much  as  forty  dollars 
a  day  by  the  use  of  rotary  hand  amalgamators.  But  a  big  storm  piled 
the  beaches  with  dog-fish  which  decayed  and  soaked  the  sand  with  oil 
so  that  the  mercury  would  not  act.  A  tidal  wave  washed  out  a  large 
part  of  the  black  sand  and  little  has  been  done  there  since.  The  chief 
of  the  Yakutat  Indians  made  the  miners  pay  him  tribute.  The  black 
sand  contained  platinum  as  well  as  gold.  Good  coal  occurs  a  mile  or 
two  inland  but  it  has  not  as  yet  been  exploited  owing  to  the  difficulty 
of  reaching  it. 

At  the  head  of  Yakutat  Bay,  which  penetrates  the  land  for  sixty 
miles,  there  is  a  smaller  bay,  named  by  the  Italian  navigator  Malaspina 
Disenchantment  Bay.  He  supposed  that  tide  water  ended  there.  Since 
then  it  has  been  explored  for  sixty  miles  farther  and  found  almost  to 
reach  the  sea  again  toward  the  south.  To  the  north  of  Disenchantment 
Bay  lie  the  two  glaciers,  Dalton  and  Hubbard.  The  fjord  running  south 


SITKA.  193 

among  lofty  mountains  is  regarded  by  those  who  have  seen  it  —  and 
they  are  few  —  as  offering  the  most  magnificent  scenery  on  the  coast. 
Lofty  mountains  rise  on  both  sides  and  cascades  come  dashing  down 
their  precipitous  cliffs. 

Mr.  Muir  writes  of  the  scenery  there  that  it  is  "  gloriously  wild  and 
sublime,  majestic  mountains  and  glaciers,  barren  moraines,  bloom-cov- 
ered islands  amid  icy,  swirling  waters,  enlivened  by  screaming  gulls, 
hair-seals  and  roaring  bergs.  On  the  other  hand,  the  beauty  of  the 
southern  extension  of  the  bay  is  tranquil  and  restful  and  perfectly 
enchanting.  Its  shores,  especially  on  the  east  side,  are  flowery  and 
finely  sculptured,  and  the  mountains,  of  moderate  height,  are  charm- 
ingly combined  and  reflected  in  the  quiet  waters." 

The  town  of  Yakutat  has  been  rendered  prosperous  by  the  lumber 
trade.  A  railway  climbs  up  into  the  interior  for  several  miles.  On 
the  wharf  are  a  saw  mill  and  cannery.  On  the  plateau  above  are  stores 
and  a  few  residences.  Not  far  away  is  the  village  inhabited  by  the 
Thlinkits.  There  is  a  forest  walk  to  the  old  Thlinkit  village  where  the 
natives  weave  their  beautiful  baskets  and  carve  their  curious  trinkets 
which  they  offer  to  the  interested  tourist.  They  still  keep  up  their 
reputation  as  light-fingered  gentry  which  Puget  discovered  to  his  cost 
a  hundred  years  ago. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  bay  begins  the  greatest  known  glacier  of  the 
world,  the  Malaspina.  It  is  not  less  than  sixty  miles  in  length  and 
extends  back  into  the  country  fully  twenty  miles.  Most  of  the  way  it  is 
separated  from  the  sea  by  a  forested  moraine  six  miles  in  width.  It 
pours  over  into  the  waves  at  Icy  Cape.  All  day  long  as  the  steamer 
ploughs  to  the  northwest  one  sees  floating  above  the  wonderful  sweep 
of  the  dazzling  glacier  the  cloudlike  heights  of  the  mountains  —  Cook, 
thirteen  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-seven  feet  high,  and  Mt.  St. 
Elias,  which  the  United  States  Coast  Survey  reckoned  to  be  more  than 
nineteen  thousand  feet  high  but  has  since  been  found  to  be  a  thousand 
feet  lower  than  that.  It  is  visible  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  out  at  sea. 
It  is  the  dominating  peak  of  the  range  and  gives  its  name  to  it,  though 


194  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

Logan,  which  can  not  be  seen  from  the  sea,  is  fifteen  hundred  feet 
higher.  Professor  I.  C.  Eussell,  who  was  sent  by  the  National  Geo- 
graphic Society  to  explore  it,  and  who  reached  an  elevation  of  fourteen 
thousand  five  hundred  feet,  says  of  the  peak  which  Bering  called  the 
'bolshaya  shapka  or  great  cap:  "  At  length  the  great  pyramid  form- 
ing the  culminating  point  of  all  the  region  burst  into  full  view.  What 
a  glorious  sight !  The  great  mountain  seemed  higher  and  grander  and 
more  regularly  proportioned  than  any  peak  I  had  ever  beheld  before. 
The  white  plain  formed  by  the  Seward  Glacier  made  an  even  fore- 
ground, which  gave  distance  to  the  foothills  forming  the  western  margin 
of  the  glacier.  Far  above  the  angular  crest  of  the  Samovar  Hills  in  the 
middle  distance  towered  St.  Elias,  sharp  and  clear  against  the  evening 
sky.  So  majestic  was  St.  Elias  that  other  magnificent  peaks  scarcely 
received  a  second  glance." 

Mrs.  Higginson  says :  —  "  For  one  whole  day  the  majestic  mountain 
and  its  beautiful  companion  peaks  were  in  sight  of  the  steamer  before 
the  next  range  came  into  view.  The  sea  breaks  sheer  upon  the  ice- 
palisades  of  the  glacier.  Icebergs,  pale  green,  pale  blue,  and  rose-col- 
ored, march  out  to  meet,  and  bowing,  pass  the  ship.  ...  On  one  side 
are  miles  and  miles  of  violet  ocean  sweeping  away  into  limitless  space, 
a  fleck  of  sunlight  flashing  like  a  firefly  in  every  hollowed  wave;  on 
the  other,  miles  on  miles  of  glistening  ice,  crowned  by  peaks  of  softest 
snow.  At  sunset  warm  purple  mists  drift  in  and  settle  over  the  gla- 
cier ;  above  these  float  banks  of  deepest  rose ;  through  both,  and  above 
them,  glimmer  the  mountains  pearlily,  in  a  remote  loveliness  that  seems 
not  of  earth." 

In  the  St.  Elias  group  there  are  nine  mountains,  the  altitude  of 
which  exceed  ten  thousand  feet  —  magnificent  giant  brothers  of  the 
North,  offering  the  mountain  climber  opportunities  enough  to  display 
skill  and  courage. 

It  was  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  after  Bering  discovered  Mt.  St. 
Elias,  before  any  attempt  was  made  to  ascend  it.  Frederick  Schwatka 
and  a  party  supported  by  the  New  York  Times,  tried  it  in  1886  but 


SITKA.  195 

failed  to  reach  the  base.  In  1888  a  party  of  four,  three  Englishmen  and 
an  American,  attained  an  altitude  of  eleven  thousand  four  hundred 
feet.  In  1890  I.  C.  Russell  and  Mark  B.  Karr  would  have  reached  the 
top  had  it  not  been  for  a  severe  storm.  Russell  reached  an  altitude 
of  fourteen  thousand  five  hundred  feet.  In  1897  the  Duke  of  the 
Abruzzi  with  a  berg  expedition  succeeded  in  attaining  the  summit. 
This  was  determined  by  the  Coast  Survey  as  eighteen  thousand  and 
twenty-four  feet.  The  chief  difficulty  consists  in  the  great  distance 
from  any  source  of  supplies.  From  St.  Elias  the  boundary  line  of 
Alaska  runs  due  north  to  Demarcation  Point  on  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

At  the  entrance  of  Controller  Bay,  across  from  Cape  Suckling,  is 
the  large  Island  of  Kayak,  which  is  notable  for  the  splendid  headland 
called  Cape  St.  Elias,  which  juts  out  into  the  stormy  waters  of  the 
Pacific  and  is  beaten  by  terrific  surf.  The  town  of  Kayak  is  on  Wing- 
ham  Island,  where  Bering  landed  in  1741,  and  which  was  named  Kaye 
Island  by  Cook  thirty-seven  years  later.  This  was  in  honor  of  an  other- 
wise unknown  clergyman  who  happened  to  have  given  Captain  Cook 
two  silver  coins  buried  in  a  bottle  containing  the  date  of  the  discovery 
and  the  names  of  his  ships. 

Controller  is  notable  for  its  oil  wells,  which  have  been  bored  here 
and  there  over  a  distance  of  two  or  three  thousand  square  miles.  Ka- 
talla,  on  the  mainland  at  the  head  of  the  bay,  sprang  into  sudden  im- 
portance, and  most  of  the  business  of  Kayak  was  transferred  to  the 
mushroom  town.  It  was  founded  in  1904  and  immediately  became  the 
terminus  of  a  proposed  railway.  Unfortunately  Katalla  had  no  good 
harbor,  only  an  open  roadstead,  and  on  many  occasions  visiting  steam- 
ships had  been  unable  to  land  their  freight  and  passengers.  The  story 
is  told  of  a  portable  bank  that  was  brought  there  three  times  and  had 
finally  to  be  transported  back  to  Seattle.  Beyond  the  delta  mouth  of 
the  great  Copper  River,  across  the  peninsula,  on  the  shore  of  Prince 
William  Sound  lies  the  new  town  of  Cordova,  which  has  a  good  harbor. 

It  was  a  question  for  a  time  which  would  be  the  terminus  of  the  rail- 
way communicating  with  the  rich  regions  of  the  upper  Copper  Valley. 


196  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

Eival  companies  engaged  in  almost  mediaeval  warfare.  Rights  of  way 
crossed,  and  tracks  were  laid  by  one  company  only  to  be  torn  up  by 
the  other.  Fortifications  were  thrown  up  and  armed  men  were  sta- 
tioned ready  to  fight  with  their  lives.  In  the  same  way  the  right  of 
way  through  the  narrow  Keystone  Canon  was  assailed  and  defended. 
A  pitched  battle  took  place;  one  man  was  killed  and  three  were 
wounded.  Both  companies  were  backed  by  millions  and  the  interests 
were  enormous. 

The  distance  from  Katalla  to  Cordova  in  a  straight  line  is  only 
about  fifty  miles,  around  by  sea  it  is  three  times  as  far.  Between 
them  flows  the  Copper  River.  It  was  called  Atnah  by  the  natives, 
who  prevented  Serebrennikof  from  exploring  its  recesses  and  killed 
him  and  his  men.  It  was  first  successfully  ascended  by  Lieutenant 
H.  T.  Allen,  who,  having  reached  its  head  waters,  crossed  the  divide 
and  sailed  down  the  Tanana  to  the  Yukon.  It  is  the  master  river 
of  that  region.  It  rises  on  the  eastern  slope  of  Mt.  Wrangel  and 
after  flowing  north  for  forty  miles  turns  southwest  for  fifty  miles.  At 
a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  it  is  joined  by  the  Chitina 
River  and  having  half  circled  the  vast  group  of  mountains  dominated 
by  Wrangel  it  turns  to  the  south  and  cuts  its  way  through  the  Chugatch 
Range  and  reaches  the  Pacific  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of  St. 
Elias.  The  river  is  a  typical  glacial  stream,  very  muddy  and  turbulent, 
flowing  swiftly  through  tremendous  canons  and  in  places  faced  by  por- 
tentous glaciers.  The  Miles  Glacier  lifts  ice  cliffs  for  six  miles  just 
below  the  Abercrombie  Rapids,  at  the  head  of  which  is  the  terminus 
of  the  Copper  River  Railway.  In  summer  steamboats  ply  the  upper 
reaches  of  the  Copper  River  and  the  Chitina.  The  whole  region  is 
marvellously  rich  in  metals.  It  is  confidently  expected  that  it  will  rival 
all  others  in  the  production  of  copper.  The  Bonanza  Mine,  which  was 
purchased  for  seventy-two  thousand  dollars  in  1900,  was  sold  eight 
years  later  for  more  than  a  million.  This  is  only  one  of  dozens  of 
other  claims,  all  promising  enormous  returns. 

The  whole  region  is  wildly  mountainous  and  evidently  of  volcanic 


!  SITKA.  197 

origin.  There  are  not  less  than  a  dozen  peaks  of  twelve  thousand  feet 
altitude  rising  from  that  one  valley.  Mr.  Eobert  Dun  in  the  summer 
of  1908  succeeded  in  climbing  to  the  top  of  Mt.  "Wrangel,  ' '  the  whitest, 
widest  dome  shaped  pile  on  earth."  Some  of  his  experiences  were 
blood  curdling.  Once,  at  a  height  of  ten  thousand  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  feet,  as  he  was  trying  to  get  some  photographs,  he  slumped 
through  the  snow  into  a  crevasse.  '  *  Legs  and  body, ' '  he  says,  ' '  were 
dangling  into  nothingness,  elbows  spread  and  clutching  on  the  yielding 
snow.  During  that  shred  of  a  second's  fall,  all  substance  inside  my 
head,  all  the  air  outside,  thickened  into  something  dense  and  leaden. 
All  the  blood  surged  outward  to  surfaces  and  extremities,  but  with  no 
flush  of  warmth.  I  hung  there  looking  down  at  the  two  slithery  green 
walls  converging  into  doom."  With  the  aid  of  his  one  companion  he 
managed  to  wriggle  back  into  safety. 

After  a  desperate  climb  of  four  thousand  feet  more,  prodding  for 
every  step  till  their  arms  ached,  they  got  near  the  crater.  ' '  I  crackled 
over  the  last  snow,"  he  says,  "  and  leaped  upon  that  ash,  in  that  damp 
and  tarnishing  breath  of  the  earth's  bowels,  with  a  mingled  thrill  of 
victory  and  apprehension  that  was  glorious  .  .  .  ran  up  the  ridge  of 
fumaroles  and  came  out.  It  was  two  o  'clock.  Beyond,  on  the  far  side, 
was  snow,  snow  everywhere.  A  plain,  two,  three  miles  across  —  you 
could  not  tell  through  the  refractive  haze.  The  vast  dead  chasm  was 
filled  chuck-a-block,  a  brimming  bowl  of  ice.  Think  of  it !  —  thirteen 
thousand  feet  and  more  above  the  sea,  all  but  tangent  to  the  Arctic 
Circle,  immutable  in  the  swing  of  seasons  —  the  world  knows  no  desert 
like  it."  He  thus  describes  the  living  crater :  — 

'  *  A  curtain  of  fog  was  snatched  away.  A  tooth  —  a  gigantic  incisor 
pointing  upward  —  appeared  on  the  southwest  rim  of  the  snow  desert. 
To  the  right,  on  a  fragment  of  outer  slope,  ran  black  ribs,  creeping  with 
slow  vapors,  downward  into  the  neve.  But  except  for  this  the  cone 
was  all  an  oval  of  darkness.  A  great  cavity  was  blazoned  there,  yawn- 
ing upward  to  its  tip.  Streaked  and  crumbling  cliffs  wavered  behind 
the  concealing  steam.  In  a  momentary  stillness  of  the  air  the  shreds 


198  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

of  vapor  thinned  and  hovered  and  drooped  along  the  rims.  Then  they 
arose  at  the  centre  in  hairlike  spires,  as  from  a  simmering  vat.  Clink- 
ery  cave  and  corrugation  sprang  forth  in  horrid  reticulation.  The 
thing  seemed  to  suspend  its  breath  like  a  living  being. ' ' 

A  storm  came  on  suddenly  and  they  retreated  while  still  they  could 
make  out  their  tracks.  After  terrible  hours,  it  cleared  again  and  once 
more  they  mounted  toward  the  crater.  More  than  once  they  caved 
into  the  "  ash-tained  and  heat-riddled  neve"  to  climb  out  dripping 
with  muddy  water  that  froze  instantly.  "  Thus,"  he  says,  "  we 
climbed,  slipped  back,  climbed  up  that  transient  traitorous  wall,  as  it 
bulged  out  here  in  a  glossy  mud  spring,  there  was  caverned  with  un- 
knowable dread;  toiled  like  beings  in  a  tread-mill  —  one  that  might 
explode  or  crumble  in  a  jiffy  into  the  soul  and  centre  of  the  earth's 
secret  being;  and  over  us  the  tented  smoke  rolling,  rolling,  all  but 
touched  our  eyelids." 

At  last  they  reached  the  very  top  and  had  forty  minutes  to  see  the 
marvellous  panorama,  to  locate  peaks,  to  take  notes  and  photographs 
' '  all  in  a  frenzied  rush. ' '  This  was  a  bit  of  the  view :  — 

"  A  dappled  floor  of  white  and  blue  opal  cloud  hid  all  the  world. 
Miles  sheer  down,  Chetudina  Glacier,  a  very  Gehenna  of  crevasses, 
plunged  under  it.  We  got  not  a  glimpse  of  the  Copper  valley,  nor 
at  the  two-mile-high  crest  of  Mount  Drum.  Anyhow,  what  mattered 
panoramas?  North  all  was  clearer,  by  the  twin  hazy  nubs  and  the 
thumb  of  Mount  Zanetti,  and  Mount  Sanford  raised  by  mirage  in  an 
orange  mist  and  tilted  toward  us  like  a  reflection  in  a  concave  mirror. 
And  —  blessed  that  we  had  eyes  to  see  it!  —  the  broad  shoulders  of 
McKinley  (magnetic  west,  exactly),  like  one  lighted  window  of  an 
invisible  house  of  splendor  on  the  uttermost  horizon." 

The  Wrangel  Mountains  are  regarded  as  separate  from  the  Coast 
Kange. 


CHAPTEE   XVIII. 

A   SOUND    OP    GLACIEKS. 

PRINCE  WILLIAM  SOUND,  or  more  properly  Archipelago, 
covers  twenty-five  hundred  square  miles.  It  contains  about  fifty 
islands,  most  of  which  rise  abruptly  out  of  the  water  and  attain 
heights  varying  from  a  thousand  to  three  thousand  feet.  Montague, 
or  Sukluk,  Hinchinbrook,  or  Nutchek,  and  Hawkins  Islands  cut  off 
the  gulf  from  the  Northern  Pacific.  Montague  Island  is  forty-five  miles 
long  and  six  or  seven  miles  wide.  Its  mountains  like  all  the  rest  give 
evidence  of  glacial  action.  There  are  six  long  fjords  separating  tongues 
of  mountainous  land  from  the  mainland  with  which  they  are  generally 
connected  by  a  narrow  neck.  Here  the  heights  reach  an  elevation  of 
five  or  six  thousand  feet  and  offer  a  wonderful  variety  of  beautiful 
scenery.  The  sediment  brought  down  by  the  various  mouths  or  sloughs 
of  the  Copper  Eiver  have  made  an  area  of  mud  flats  in  some  places 
fifteen  miles  wide.  The  sail  through  the  archipelago  is  most  en- 
trancing. Mr.  Muir  thought  the  view  to  the  west  one  of  the  most 
enchanting  he  had  ever  seen:  "  Peak  over  peak,  dipping  deep  into 
the  sky,  a  thousand  of  them,  icy  and  shining,  rising  higher,  higher, 
beyond  and  yet  beyond  another  burning  bright  in  the  afternoon  light, 
purple  cloud  bars  above  them,  purple  shadows  in  the  hollows  and  great 
breadths  of  sun-spangled,  ice-dotted  waters  in  front." 

There  are  views  of  distant  snow-capped  mountains;  the  channel 
runs  close  to  wooded  shores  with  glimpses  of  meadows  and  glorious 
glades.  Sometimes  the  abrupt  shore  towers  almost  overhead.  Many 
of  the  fjords  are  filled  with  living  glaciers;  of  the  eleven  principal 
ones  the  most  remarkable  is  the  Columbia,  which  is  four  miles  wide 

199 


200  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

and  three  hundred  feet  high,  situated  on  the  western  side  of  the  en- 
trance to  Valdez. 

"  In  ordinary  light,"  says  Mrs.  Higginson,  "  the  front  of  the  glacier 
is  beautifully  blue.  It  is  a  blue  that  is  never  seen  in  anything  save  a 
glacier  or  a  floating  iceberg  —  a  pale,  pale  blue  that  seems  to  flash  out 
fire  with  every  movement.  At  sunset  its  beauty  holds  one  spellbound. 
It  sweeps  down  magnificently  from  the  snow-peaks  which  form  its  fit 
setting  and  pushes  out  into  the  sea  in  a  solid  wall  of  spired  and  pin- 
nacled opal  which,  ever  and  anon  breaking  off,  flings  over  it  clouds 
of  color  which  dazzle  the  eyes.  At  times  there  is  a  display  of  prismatic 
colors  across  the  front,  which  grow,  fade,  and  grow  again,  the  most 
beautiful  rainbow  shadings.  They  come  and  go  swiftly  and  noiselessly, 
affecting  one  somewhat  like  Northern  Lights  —  so  still,  so  brilliant, 
so  mysterious." 

All  of  the  region  of  Prince  William  Sound  is  now  a  national  forest 
preserve. 

The  town  of  Valdez  was  founded  in  1898  and  owed  its  prosperity  to 
the  traffic  attendant  on  the  Klondike  hejira.  That  first  year  three  thou- 
sand people  sailed  up  through  the  exquisite  Puerto  de  Valdes,  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  Sound  and  climbed  along  the  glacier  through  the  fast- 
nesses of  the  canon- streaked  Chugatch  to  that  enticing  realm  of  gold. 
The  canvas  town  was  speedily  replaced  by  one  more  substantial.  Val- 
dez has  now  a  population  of  twenty-five  hundred.  The  houses  are 
small  but  comfortable  and  in  some  cases  the  old  Eussian's  advice  about 
artistic  surroundings  seems  to  have  been  followed.  The  climate  is 
not  more  severe  than  that  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  in  summer  there 
is  a  profusion  of  flowers.  Though  it  is  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
farther  north  than  Sitka,  its  winter  climate  is  only  ten  degrees  colder 
and  its  harbor  is  open  all  the  year.  Strongly  constructed  piers  are  built 
out  into  deep  water,  the  electric  light  is  in  universal  use  as  well  as  the 
telephone.  The  town  boasts  of  schools,  churches  and  a  hospital,  two 
newspapers,  hotels  and  restaurants,  excellent  shops,  a  brewery  and 
factories,  saw-mills  and  saloons,  and  many  other  adjuncts  to  civiliza- 


A    SOUND    OF    GLACIERS.  201 

tion.  There  are  almost  as  many  dogs  as  in  Constantinople.  The  vis- 
itor first  sees  them  waiting  on  the  wharf.  They  know  when  the  steamer 
comes,  and  hasten  down  to  do  the  honors. 

Valdez  is  situated  on  a  level  plain  between  two  glacial  streams  that 
flow  down  lined  with  alders,  cottonwoods,  willows  and  other  trees. 
Back  of  the  city  rises  the  dead  glacier,  slowly  wearing  away  in  its  grave, 
sweeping  down  between  glittering  mountains.  "With  plenty  of  time  to 
spare  one  may  take  horses  and  follow  the  famous  trail  into  the  Tanana 
country.  Ten  miles  out  after  an  enchanting  view  of  the  Lowe  Eiver 
valley  winding  in  its  reaches  of  silvery  stream  a  thousand  feet  below, 
one  comes  to  Camp  Comfort,  where  in  the  early  days  as  many  as  sev- 
enty miners  returning  with  gunny  sacks  filled  with  gold  have  slept 
at  one  time.  Not  all  were  so  fortunate. 

Beyond  a  goodly  stretch  of  primeval  forest  the  trail  strikes  the 
famous  Keystone  Canon,  the  walls  of  which  rise  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
hundred  feet  above  the  roaring  river,  and  follows  along  on  such  a 
narrow  ledge  that  a  single  misstep  would  precipitate  horse  and  rider 
into  dizzy  depths.  The  men  returning  with  empty  pockets  probably 
cared  little  to  stop  and  contemplate  the  Bridal  Veil  Fall  which  leaps 
off  into  the  canon  from  a  height  of  six  hundred  feet.  From  Wortman's 
roadhouse  to  the  summit  of  Thompson  Pass  is  a  seven  miles'  jaunt  and 
it  is  the  proper  thing  to  see  the  sun  rise  from  that  precipice.  Unnamed 
and  unnumbered  peaks  rise  into  the  blue,  all  crowned  with  snow  which 
takes  on  the  most  exquisite  tints  of  pearly  blue  or  pink.  In  every 
direction  are  valleys  eaten  out  by  dashing  streams  whose  musical  voices 
fill  the  silences.  In  summer  there  are  vast  reaches  covered  with  vivid- 
hued  flowers  —  violets,  harebells,  wild  geraniums,  anemones  and  but- 
tercups. 

Occasionally  the  trail  dips  into  a  level  valley  and  then  one  has  views 
of  sweeping  mountains  from  below.  Heights  of  two  miles  perpendic- 
ular are  not  uncommon.  One  of  the  most  impressive  mountains  thus 
seen  from  below  is  Mt.  Drum,  which  is  twelve  thousand  feet  above  the 
valley.  The  view  from  the  summit  of  Sour-Dough  Hill  is  claimed  by 


202  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

some  to  be  unsurpassed  in  Alaska.  From  here  one  sees  the  majestic 
peaks  of  the  Castle  Mountains,  rivers  dashing  thunderously  down  wild 
and  sombre  canons,  valleys  filled  to  the  brim  with  living  glaciers,  tre- 
mendous cascades  taking  their  leap  down  into  the  polished  sides  of 
dark  rock.  Here  one  can  see  the  whole  length  of  the  Kennicott  glacier 
sweeping  down  for  forty  miles  through  the  Kennicott  Valley  from 
Mt.  Wrangel  and  Mt.  Regal.  Far  to  the  south,  dim  in  the  distance,  rise 
the  peaks  of  the  Coast  Eange  —  a  marvellous  wilderness  of  petrified 
billows. 

The  valley  of  the  Copper  River  and  its  tributaries  has  been  pretty 
thoroughly  examined  by  the  Government  geologists,  and  it  is  believed 
that  it  is  rich  not  only  in  metals  but  in  possibilities  for  thousands  of 
small  farmers  who  will  raise  all  kinds  of  vegetables  as  well  as  rye  and 
barley.  Only  a  hundred  and  sixty  miles  from  Valdez  Daniel  Kain  with 
only  a  shovel  took  out  in  two  days  five  ounces  of  coarse  gold  on  the 
headwaters  of  Dan  Creek  which  runs  into  the  Nizina.  It  is  noticeable 
that  most  of  the  rivers  that  flow  into  the  Copper  and  into  the  Tanana 
bear  their  Indian  names  in  contradistinction  to  the  bays  and  sounds 
that  were  named  by  the  early  navigators. 

The  trail  from  Valdez  leads  to  the  richest  copper  mine  so  far  dis- 
covered in  Alaska.  Reports  of  the  presence  of  that  metal  had  been 
brought  in  by  Indians  and  others;  but  not  until  the  summer  of  1898 
did  any  success  attend  the  efforts  of  prospectors  to  locate  it.  Men 
who  penetrated  the  Wrangel  Mountains  in  1899  by  the  route  of  the 
Kotsina  River  discovered  the  Nikolai  mine  in  July,  1899,  under  the 
guidance  of  a  native  named  Jack,  who  had  a  map  made  by  Nikolai,  chief 
of  the  Taral  Indians.  This  mine  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Chi- 
tina  Exploration  Company  of  San  Francisco.  That  same  autumn  a 
party  of  ten  men  entered  into  an  agreement  to  prospect  in  the  interior, 
all  property  found  to  be  held  for  their  joint  benefit.  Among  them  was 
R.  F.  McClennan,  who  had  discovered  the  Nikolai  mine.  All  but  two 
of  the  party  separated  for  the  winter.  Two  of  them,  Clarence  Warner 
and  Jack  Smith,  who  remained  in  Valdez,  started  in  March  to  climb 


A    SOUND    OF    GLACIERS.  205 

the  trail  into  the  interior.  The  snow  was  from  six  to  ten  feet  deep 
and  they  were  not  able  to  make  more  than  five  or  six  miles  a  day  even 
after  almost  superhuman  exertions.  When  they  reached  the  so-called 
McCarthy  cache  about  fifteen  miles  east  of  Copper  River  on  the  trail 
to  the  Nikolai  mine,  they  found  that  Indians  had  broken  into  it 
and  stolen  nearly  all  the  provisions,  amounting  to  several  thousand 
pounds. 

During  the  winter  McClennan  had  made  an  agreement  with  the  Chi- 
tina  Company  to  work  during  the  summer  on  the  Nikolai  mine.  When 
he,  in  company  with  a  number  of  men  and  horses,  reached  the  McCarthy 
cabin  he  found  Smith  and  Warner  there.  A  great  dispute  immediately 
ensued  and  McClennan  packed  in  all  Smith  and  Warner's  provisions 
to  the  Nikolai  mine,  which  is  situated  on  Nikolai  creek  about  a  thousand 
feet  above  the  timber  line.  These  two  men  set  out  in  July  witb  packs 
on  their  backs  to  prospect.  After  wandering  aimlessly  for  two  days 
they  camped  one  noon  near  a  small  stream  that  came  tearing  down 
from  the  mountains.  Warner  happened  to  glance  upward  and  saw 
something  green.  It  could  not  be  grass.  With  great  exertion  the  two 
men  managed  to  clamber  up  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  to  the  western 
slope  of  the  ridge  and  there  they  came  across  a  mass  of  ore  cutting 
across  greenstone  and  limestone  and  exposed  for  about  four  feet.  It 
proved  to  be  pure  chalcocite  or  copper  glance.  They  found  solid  masses 
of  the  ore  from  two  to  four  feet  across  and  fifteen  feet  long  here  and 
there.  They  were  experienced  miners  and  they  knew  the  value  of  their 
discovery.  Several  tons  were  in  sight.  When  it  was  analyzed  it  gave 
more  than  seventy  per  cent,  of  pure  copper  and  fourteen  ounces  of 
silver  besides  a  trace  of  gold. 

This  was  the  origin  of  the  great  Bonanza  mine,  the  richest  copper 
mine  so  far  discovered  in  the  Northwest.  They  were  not  allowed  to 
claim  it  without  a  bitter  fight.  The  lawsuit  lasted  several  years  and 
was  one  of  the  most  dramatic  ever  fought  out  in  the  courts.  Charges 
of  bribery  and  corruption  were  freely  made.  It  was  finally  decided 
in  favor  of  the  discoverers.  Smith  located  another  claim  across  Me- 


206  "  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

Carthy  Creek  and  disposed  of  it  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 

The  Government  trail  from  the  Copper  Biver,  indeed  from  Valdez, 
has  been  pretty  carefully  laid  out  and  is  not  at  all  difficult  in  the  sum- 
mer. 

The  Indians  were  accustomed  to  make  use  of  a  portage  from  their 
Chugach  Bay  to  Cook  Inlet,  so  close  lie  these  two  great  bodies  of  in- 
land waters,  though  by  ship  it  is  a  voyage  of  several  hundred  miles. 

The  ordinary  tourist  does  not  go  beyond  Valdez  in  a  summer  excur- 
sion to  Alaska,  but  if  he  desires  he  can  take  a  steamer  which  sails  about 
the  middle  of  each  month  and  visits  some  of  the  settlements  to  the 
westward.  Separating  the  great  Chugach  Gulf  from  historic  Cook's 
Inlet  is  the  remarkable  Kenai  Peninsula.  This  peninsula  is  heavily 
wooded,  the  forests  climbing  its  mountains  to  a  height  of  two  thousand 
feet,  the  timber  being  principally  spruce  with  large  areas  of  hemlock, 
birch  and  other  trees.  The  land  is  fertile  and  the  climate  suitable  for 
many  kinds  of  agriculture.  Berries  abound  and  the  hay  crop  is  fre- 
quently abundant.  The  surrounding  waters  swarm  with  fish  and  the 
rivers  are  the  home  of  the  multitudinous  salmon.  Col.  Caine,  speaking 
of  the  scenery  of  the  Kenai  Peninsula,  says :  — 

11  The  view  was  sublime.  To  our  right  the  enormous  glacier  from 
which  this  branch  of  the  Indian  River  issues  filled  up  the  whole  of  the 
head  of  the  deep  valley,  the  precipitous  sides  of  which  fell  almost  per- 
pendicularly to  its  foot  in  cliffs  a  thousand  feet  high,  till  it  met  the 
sky  line  ten  miles  away.  Beyond  the  gorge  mountain  after  mountain 
stretched  away  as  far  as  eye  could  reach  with  a  glimpse  between  two 
peaks  of  another  glacier." 

Even  more  enthusiastic  is  the  naturalist,  A.  J.  Stone,  who  visited 
the  region  in  the  interests  of  science :  — 

"It  is  a  land  of  magnificent  rugged  mountains,  and  of  beautiful 
rolling  meadow  lands ;  a  land  of  eternal  fields  of  glistening  snow  and 
ice,  and  of  everlasting  fires  of  burning  lignite;  of  frozen  moss  and 
lichen-covered  plains  and  of  vegetation  that  is  tropical  in  its  luxuriance ; 


A    SOUND    OF    GLACIERS.  207 

a  land  of  extensive  coal  fields,  smoking  volcanoes,  and  of  earthquakes 
so  frequent  as  to  fail  to  excite  comment  among  its  natural  residents; 
of  charming  quiet  bays  and  harbors,  and  of  tides  and  tide-rips  among 
the  greatest  in  the  world;  of  almost  endless  days  in  summer,  and  of 
gray  dismal  winter  nights;  of  an  abundant  animal  life  both  in  the 
water  and  on  the  land.  Nowhere  else  in  the  world  does  nature  exert 
herself  in  so  many  ways  as  in  the  Kenai  Peninsula.  The  waters,  the 
mountains,  the  great  rivers  of  ice,  the  vegetable  and  animal  life  all 
vie  with  each  other  in  the  production  of  something  unusual  and  won- 
derful." 

The  principal  town  on  the  peninsula  is  Seward,  situated  on  Eesur- 
rection  Bay  and  designed  as  the  terminus  of  the  Alaska  Central  Bail- 
way.  The  town  site  was  purchased  of  a  pioneer  family  for  four  thou- 
sand dollars.  It  has  all  the  aspect  of  a  frontier  lumber  town.  The 
business  streets  have  a  picturesque  melange  of  un-uprooted  stumps, 
cabins  made  of  birch  logs,  and  more  permanent  edifices,  such  as 
churches,  banks,  a  library  and  a  hospital.  There  is  a  good  wharf  and 
a  sufficient  harborage  which  is  open  all  winter.  Here  Baranof  is  said 
to  have  built  his  famous  ship  the  Feniks. 

The  Alaskan  Central  Eailway  was  projected  to  penetrate  the  rich 
mining  region  of  the  Tanana  Valley  and  it  was  estimated  that  it  would 
cost  twenty-five  million  dollars.  The  route  was  to  strike  Turnagain 
Arm,  where  there  are  profitable  gold  mines,  and  then  to  follow  up  the 
valley  of  the  Susitna.  Passengers  by  this  line  would  get  a  magnificent 
view  of  the  Alaskan  Eange  of  mountains  and  particularly  of  Mt.  Mc- 
Kinley,  which  lifts  its  snow-crowned  head  to  a  height  of  more  than 
twenty  thousand  feet,  being  now  recognized  as  the  monarch  of  all  Amer- 
ican mountains,  though  not  much  higher  than  its  neighbor  Mt.  Foster. 

Dr.  Cook  describes  the  view  from  the  top  of  McKinley,  which  he 
claims  to  have  reached  in  company  with  Edward  Barille. 

! '  It  was  September  sixteenth,  the  temperature  sixteen  degrees  below 
zero,  the  altitude  twenty  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet.  The 
Arctic  Circle  was  in  sight ;  so  was  the  Pacific  Ocean.  We  were  inter- 


208  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

ested  mostly,  not  in  the  distant  scenes,  but  in  the  very  strange  anomaly 
of  our  immediate  surroundings.  It  was  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
the  sky  was  as  black  as  that  of  midnight.  At  our  feet  the  snow  glittered 
with  a  ghastly  light.  As  the  eye  ran  down  we  saw  the  upper  clouds 
drawn  out  in  loose  strings,  and  still  farther  down  the  big  cumulus 
forms,  and  through  the  gap  far  below,  seemingly  in  the  interior  of  the 
earth,  bits  of  rugged  landscape.  The  frightful,  uncanny  aspect  of  the 
outlook  made  us  dizzy.  Fifty  thousand  square  miles  of  our  arctic  won- 
derland was  spread  out  under  our  enlarged  horizon,  but  we  could  see 
it  only  in  sections.  Various  trains  of  morning  clouds  screened  the 
lowlands  and  eastward  the  lesser  peaks.  "We  could  see  the  narrow 
silvery  bands  marking  the  course  of  the  Yukon  and  the  Tanana,  while 
to  the  south,  looking  over  nearby  clouds,  we  had  an  unobstructed  view. 
Mt.  Susitna,  one  hundred  miles  away  in  a  great  green  expanse  was 
but  a  step  in  the  run  of  distance.  The  icy  cones  of  the  burning  vol- 
canoes, Eedoubt,  Iliamna  and  Chirabora,  the  last  two  hundred  miles 
away,  were  clearly  visible  with  their  rising  vapors.  Still  farther  the 
point  of  Kenai  Peninsula,  and  beyond  the  broad  sweep  of  the  Pacific, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away. ' ' 

The  railway  has  fallen  into  financial  difficulties  and  beyond  a  dis- 
tance of  fifty-three  miles  exists  only  on  paper.  It  is  only  a  question 
of  time  when  the  great  interests  involved  will  necessitate  its  extension 
to  Fairbanks.  It  would  tap  splendid  spruce  forests,  the  fine  coals  of 
the  Matanuska,  rich  mines  of  gold  and  copper  and  serve  an  agricultural 
population  that  is  certain  to  fill  the  fertile  valleys  under  the  Govern- 
ment homestead  act  which  grants  settlers  farms  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

SUMMEBLAND. 

THE  scenery  of  Cook's  Inlet  is  almost  as  magnificent  and  varied 
as  that  of  the  Chngach  Gulf.  Cape  Douglas  is  a  most  imposing 
promontory  thrusting  into  the  sea  for  several  miles  and  then 
opposing  a  sheer  bluff  for  a  thousand  feet.  Between  Cape  Elizabeth 
and  Cape  Douglas  the  entrance  is  fifty  miles  wide.  As  it  were  guard- 
ing the  bay  stands  the  dead  volcano  of  St.  Augustine,  a  perfectly  sym- 
metrical cone,  which  rises  to  a  height  of  three  thousand  feet,  glittering 
with  snow  packed  into  every  seam.  Along  the  western  shore  is  a  chain 
of  active  volcanoes,  the  loftiest  of  which  is  Iliamna  Peak,  whose  smok- 
ing crest  rises  to  a  height  of  twelve  thousand  and  sixty-six  feet.  It  is 
snow-clad  to  the  top.  It  was  last  in  eruption  in  1854  but  the  evanescent 
smoke-wreaths  curling  around  the  steep  summit  make  it  evident  that 
the  internal  fires  are  only  slumbering.  At  its  foot  lies  Iliamna  Lake, 
the  second  largest  body  of  fresh  water  in  Alaska.  It  is  perhaps  sev- 
enty-five miles  long  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  miles  wide.  It 
drains  into  Bristol  Bay  on  Bering  Sea  by  the  Kuichak  River,  and  the 
salmon  which  seek  its  waters  furnish  material  for  one  of  the  largest 
canneries  in  Alaska.  Northeast  from  Iliamna  is  another  volcano  called 
by  the  Russians  the  Burning  Mountain.  It  is  mapped  now  as  Redoubt. 
It  rises  to  a  height  of  eleven  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy  feet 
and  constantly  sends  up  clouds  of  smoke.  At  its  last  eruption  in  1867 
the  gray  ashes  were  drifted  over  to  islands  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  distant.  In  1902  it  was  pouring  forth  dense  black  smoke 
and  vivid  sheets  of  flame.  Redoubt  too  has  its  lake.  It  bears  the  com- 
mon name  of  Clarke  and  is  long,  though  not  so  wide  as  Iliamna  with 

209 


210  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

which  it  is  connected  by  the  Nogheling  Biver.  It  is  a  paradise  for 
hunters.  On  the  Kenai  Peninsula  and  along  the  Alaskan  Eange  roam 
the  fierce  Kenai  grizzlies.  One  may  sometimes  fall  in  with  the  fierce 
Kadiak  brown  bear  which  equals  the  grizzlies  in  ferocity  and  is  the 
largest  carnivorous  animal  known,  often  attaining  a  length  of  ten  or 
twelve  feet.  There  are  also  black  and  cinnamon  bears.  The  stringent 
and  excellent  game  laws  l  require  a  permit  for  hunters  to  kill  them. 
The  moose  here  attains  the  enormous  weight  of  sixteen  hundred  pounds 
and  with  a  spread  of  antlers  of  five  or  six  feet.  They  are  numerous 
in  the  wooded  valleys  of  the  Kenai  Peninsula  and  on  the  sides  of  the 
Alaskan  range.  Deer,  mountain  goats  and  mountain  sheep,  wolves, 
foxes,  caribou,  and  many  other  kinds  of  game  abound.  Colonel  Caine 
declares  this  region  one  of  the  finest  natural  hunting  grounds  in  the 
world. 

A  tremendous  tide  runs  up  Cook  Inlet.  As  it  narrows  it  rises  and 
falls  from  twenty  to  twenty-seven  feet  and  the  natives,  ' l  the  Cossacks 
of  the  sea  "  who  are  skilful  in  the  use  of  their  walrus-hide  bidarkas, 
sometimes  use  the  bore  as  a  sort  of  marine  toboggan  slide.  Big  steam- 
ers touch  only  at  Seldovia,  which  has  no  wharf,  and  at  Homer,  on  the 
northern  side  of  Kachemak  Bay,  where  there  is  a  good  wharf.  The 
town  is  practically  deserted  owing  to  the  setback  which  coal  mining 
received  a  few  years  ago.  This  subsidiary  bay  has  coal  mines  and 
glaciers.  Burroughs  says  of  it :  —  "  Grandeur  looked  down  on  it  from 
the  mountains  around,  especially  from  the  great  volcanic  peaks,  Iliamna 
and  Redoubt,  sixty  miles  across  the  inlet  to  the  west. ' ' 

To  reach  the  upper  end\)f  the  inlet  and  its  finger- stretching  arms 
one  has  to  wait  the  pleasure  of  some  small  steamer  which  makes  the 
trip  at  irregular  intervals.  Cook  supposed  the  inlet  that  bears  his  name 
was  a  big  river  and  when  he  found  that  the  eastern  branch  was  only 
a  cul  de  sac  he  called  it  Turnagain.  It  is  about  thirty  miles  in  length. 
The  great  river  Susitna,  which  drains  a  region  of  eight  thousand  square 

1  Mr.  McLain  calls  the  game  laws  of  Alaska  cruel  because  they  rob  the  Indians  of  a  market 
for  their  furs  during  the  season  when  they  are  most  available. 


SUMMERLAND.  211 

miles  and  is  navigable  almost  up  to  the  flanks  of  Mt.  McKinley,  flows 
into  the  inlet  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles  from  the  entrance. 

Vancouver  describes  the  region  bordering  on  the  bays  that  variegate 
this  great  inland  sea  as  "  low,  wooded,  and  rising  with  a  gradual  as- 
cent, until  at  the  inner  point  of  the  entrance  when  the  shores  suddenly 
rise  to  lofty  eminences  in  nearly  perpendicular  cliffs,  and  compose  stu- 
pendous mountains  that  are  broken  into  chasms  and  deep  gullies. 
Down  these,"  he  continues,  "  rushed  immense  torrents  of  water,  ren- 
dering the  naked  sides  of  these  precipices  awfully  grand;  on  their 
tops  grew  a  few  stunted  pine  trees,  but  they  were  nearly  destitute  of 
every  other  vegetable  production." 

The  climate  of  this  region  is  so  balmy  that  the  Eussians  called  it 
Summerland.  Fruits,  vegetables  and  grain  come  to  maturity  and  are 
delicious  in  flavor.  Cows  and  hens  flourish  and  one  can  always  have 
good  butter  and  eggs.  The  ultimate  exploitation  of  the  coal  fields  which 
will  suffice  for  centuries  for  the  whole  Pacific  Coast  will  assure  the 
future  of  this  wonderful  Aleutian  country.  The  opinion  held  by  the 
Interior  Department  that  all  of  these  natural  monopolies  in  coal  should 
be  retained  by  the  Government  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  people  is 
one  that  will  assuredly  commend  itself  to  the  judgment  of  our  descend- 
ants who  will  have  cause  enough  to  regret  the  undemocratic  concen- 
tration of  these  enormous  treasures  in  the  hands  of  a  comparatively 
small  part  of  the  population.  The  oldest  coal  mine  in  Alaska  is  situated 
on  the  western  shore  of  the  inlet.  It  was  worked  by  the  Eussians 
under  the  direction  of  German  miners  who  ran  a  drift  into  the  vein 
for  seventeen  hundred  feet,  but  though  they  took  out  nearly  three  thou- 
sand tons  the  venture  was  not  profitable,  as  the  coal  proved  to  be  of 
too  poor  a  quality  for  steamships. 

All  voyageurs  agree  as  to  the  splendor  of  the  scenery  throughout  this 
region.  Mr.  E.  H.  Sargent  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  thus 
describes  the  view  of  the  Alaska  range  of  Mountains  as  seen  from  an 
elevation  of  about  twenty-five  hundred  feet  on  the  western  slope  of  the 
Talkitna  group :  — 


212  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

"  The  day  was  perfect;  not  a  cloud  could  be  seen  in  the  heavens. 
Below  lay  the  broad,  level  valley  of  the  Susitna  River,  beautifully  car- 
peted in  the  deep  green  of  the  coniferae,  while  here  and  there  a  shining 
patch  of  light,  outlining  a  lake,  broke  the  monotony,  and  through  the 
centre  of  it  all  the  Susitna  wound  like  a  silver  trail. 

"  Across  the  valley,  fifty  miles  away,  the  foothills  of  the  Alaska 
Eange  rose,  rugged,  angular,  and  formidable,  their  cold,  gray,  serrated 
peaks  often  resembling  clusters  of  spires ;  while  back  of  them,  dwarf- 
ing to  the  height  of  mere  foothills  in  comparison,  Mount  Ball,  Mount 
Russell  and  Mount  Foraker  stood  like  white-clad  guardians  to  their 
chief.  A  sweep  of  the  horizon  from  the  south  to  the  northeast,  where 
the  view  was  cut  off  by  the  adjacent  mountains,  gave  the  grandest  pano- 
rama imaginable.  Far  away  in  the  distance  could  be  seen  the  volcanoes 
Iliamna  and  Redoubt,  on  the  western  shore  of  Cook  Inlet,  while  at  the 
other  extremity  Mount  Hayes  towered  high  above  everything  about  it. 
Between  these  two  the  waving  crest-line  of  the  range  was  now  painted 
in  the  green  of  a  river  valley,  now  cold,  steel  gray,  as  it  outlined  the 
lower  peaks,  gradually  becoming  whitened  as  it  reached  its  crest,  and 
then  on  through  the  same  transition  until  lost  to  view. ' ' 

Southwest  from  the  Kenai  Peninsula,  and  on  the  same  parallel  as 
Sitka  and  the  Pribilof  Islands,  is  Kadiak,  or  Kodiak,  next  to  Prince 
of  Wales  Island  the  largest  of  all  the  Alaskan  islands.  It  was  dis- 
covered in  1763  by  Stepan  Glottof,  whose  ship  was  fiercely  attacked 
by  the  natives.  As  usual  gunpowder  triumphed.  In  1784  Shelikof 
established  his  first  trading-post  at  Three-Saints  Bay  on  the  south- 
eastern shore.  At  that  time  he  reported  the  natives  as  numbering 
fifty  thousand.  This  was  a  gross  exaggeration  —  probably  there  were 
not  a  tenth  as  many.  They  called  themselves  Kaniagmut.  He  de- 
scribed them  as  tall,  healthy,  and  strong,  generally  round-faced,  of 
light  brown  color,  the  hair  black  and  prevalently  bunched  forward  over 
the  forehead  and  cut  off  at  the  eyebrows.  Perhaps  because  of  the 
delightful  climate  they  were  a  braver,  finer  and  more  intelligent  people 
than  the  other  Aleuts.  The  Kadiak  bears  are  also  larger  and  fiercer 


SUMMERLAND.  213 

than  any  other  of  the  Alaska  flesh-eating  mammals,  and  the  moose 
grows  there  to  colossal  size.  The  island  is  a  hundred  miles  long  and 
about  forty  wide.  Its  mountains  rise  to  a  height  of  not  more  than 
five  thousand  feet  and  are  smoothly  rounded;  the  valleys  are  filled 
with  luxuriant  grass ;  there  are  no  forests  except  on  the  Eastern  end. 

The  tremendous  convulsion  of  nature  which  separated  Kadiak  from 
the  mainland  seems  to  be  turned  into  a  myth  by  the  native  legend  which 
relates  how  an  immense  otter  trying  to  thread  the  waterways  got  caught 
and  could  not  free  himself.  His  struggles  resulted  in  pushing  the 
islands  into  the  Pacific,  leaving  the  straits  that  now  bear  the  name  of 
Shelikof. 

Shelikof  was  obliged  to  subdue  the  natives  by  force.  Great  cruelty 
was  practised  in  compelling  them  to  hunt  for  the  Russians.  At  the 
same  time  attempts  were  made  to  convert  them.  Here  the  first  mis- 
sionary work  on  the  northwest  coast  was  carried  on.  This  was  sup- 
plemented in  1796  by  a  school,  opened  by  Father  Juvenal,  who  reported 
the  natives  as  deeply  impressed  though  they  did  not  understand  the 
language  of  the  service. 

Baranof  transferred  the  settlement  to  the  northern  end  of  the  island 
and  there  in  1796  the  first  "  Orthodox  "  Greek  church  was  built.  It 
is  still  shown  with  pride.  It  is  painted  white  and  is  surrounded  with 
a  white  fence  and  by  trees.  The  steeple  carries  a  chime  of  bells  and 
is  surmounted  by  the  characteristic  Eussian  cross  with  its  three  trans- 
verse bars,  the  lowest  slanting.  The  interior  is  much  less  elaborate 
than  the  church  in  Sitka. 

The  great  log  warehouse  in  which  the  furs  and  stores  of  the  Shelikof 
Company  were  kept  is  also  a  mute  witness  to  the  immensity  of  the 
transactions  of  those  early  days.  The  Northern  Commercial  Company 
still  maintains  one  of  its  branches  in  the  town  and  the  residence  which 
stands  on  a  commanding  eminence  is  a  great  centre  of  hospitality  for 
visitors. 

Visitors  are  always  enthusiastic  at  the  charm  of  Kadiak.  John 
Burroughs  calls  it  "  bewitching  "  and  breaks  into  a  lyric  strain  in 


214  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

praise  of  its  emerald  heights,  flowery  vales  and  vast  green  solitudes, 
"  so  secluded,  so  remote,  so  peaceful." 

Mrs.  Higginson  can  scarcely  find  adjectives  enough :  —  She  describes 
the  clouds  ' '  like  broken  columns  of  pearl  ' '  that ' '  pushed  languorously 
up  through  the  misty  gold  of  the  atmosphere,"  the  long  slopes  of  the 
hill-side  vividly  green  and  the  acres  of  brilliant  bloom. 

"  To  one  climbing  the  hill  behind  the  village,"  she  says,  "  island 
beyond  island  drifted  into  view,  with  blue  waterways  winding  through 
velvety  labyrinths  of  green ;  and  beyond  all,  the  strong,  limitless  sweep 
of  ocean.  The  winds  were  but  the  softest  zephyrs,  touching  the  face 
and  hair  like  rose  petals,  or  other  delicate,  visible  things ;  and  the  air 
was  fragrant  with  things  that  grow  day  and  night  and  that  fling  their 
splendor  forth  in  one  riotous  rush  of  bloom.  Shaken  through  and 
through  their  perfume  was  that  thrilling,  indescribable  sweetness  which 
abides  in  vast  spaces  where  snow  mountains  glimmer  and  the  opaline 
palisades  of  glaciers  shine. ' ' 

A  short  distance  across  from  the  town  of  Kodiak  is  Wood  Island, 
where  were  once  stationed  the  head-quarters  of  the  American-Russian 
Ice  Company,  the  ruins  of  the  big  buildings  being  still  visible.  The 
manager  of  the  company  lived  in  luxurious  style  and  is  said  to  have 
constructed  the  first  road  in  Alaska.  It  skirts  the  island  and  is  about 
thirteen  miles  long.  There  is  a  remarkably  successful  Baptist  Orphan- 
age for  native  children  on  this  island.  The  girls  are  taught  housework, 
the  boys  learn  to  do  farming.  The  climate  is  such  that  although  grain 
does  not  fill  out,  all  vegetables  thrive  —  potatoes  averaging  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  bushels  to  the  acre  —  and  it  is  a  paradise  for  cattle. 
They  raise  angora  goats  and  their  dairy  products  are  of  the  first 
quality.  Wood  Island  has  also  a  Greek  Russian  church  and  a 
mission. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  shallow  Karluk  River,  which  flows  sixteen  miles 
down  into  the  Shelikof  Strait,  is  one  of  the  largest  salmon  canning  fac- 
tories in  Alaska.  It  is  provided  with  every  labor-saving  device.  The 
whole  operation  is  very  interesting,  but  is  conducted  on  such  an  enor- 


SUMMERLAND.  215 

mous  scale  that  it  makes  the  judicious  tremble  for  the  fate  of  the 
salmon. 

The  fish  which  swarm  into  this  little  river  by  the  millions,  making 
an  almost  solid  stream,  are  caught  in  a  net  nine  or  ten  feet  wide  and 
almost  half  a  mile  long  paid  out  by  a  tug.  One  end  is  made  fast ;  the 
other  is  hauled  in  by  a  windlass.  When  it  has  narrowed  the  enclosed 
area  to  a  few  hundred  square  feet,  barges  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  long 
and  half  as  wide  are  brought  along  side  and  filled  with  a  squirming, 
struggling  mass  of  big  salmon.  These  are  emptied  into  bins  and  the 
butchers  take  them  out  and  cut  off  their  heads,  fins  and  tails.  Human 
labor  became  so  skilful  that  a  single  man  would  thus  treat  three  hun- 
dred an  hour ;  but  a  recently  perfected  machine  works  far  more  expe- 
ditiously  and  with  vastly  less  waste.  An  endless  belt  carries  them  to 
another  machine  which  removes  the  scales,  cuts  them  open  and  removes 
the  entrails  while  a  strong  stream  of  water  washes  each  one  thoroughly. 
They  are  then  inspected  and  if  suitable  are  laid  crosswise  on  an  ascend- 
ing series  of  parallel  belts  between  which  are  placed  rapidly  revolving 
knives.  These  cut  them  into  sections  to  fit  the  cans  which  are  rammed 
full  of  fish,  capped  and  soldered  in  one  operation  and  at  the  rate  of  one 
a  second.  The  cans  are  then  heated  to  a  temperature  of  two  hundred 
and  twelve  degrees  and  kept  so  for  about  an  hour.  After  this  each 
can  is  punctured  to  allow  the  gases  to  escape  and  when  it  has  been 
resoldered  it  is  again  heated  for  another  hour  at  a  temperature  of  two 
hundred  and  forty  degrees.  When  it  has  cooled  the  Chinese  expert  tests 
it  to  see  if  it  is  air  tight.  He  can  tell  by  the  sound.  If  the  test  is  sat- 
isfactory the  can  is  labelled  and  packed  in  cases.  The  value  of  the 
Alaskan  salmon  industry  is  not  far  from  ten  millions  of  dollars  a  year. 

The  law  requires  canneries  to  maintain  salmon  hatcheries.  That  at 
Karluk  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  successful  and  costs  not  far  from 
twenty  thousand  dollars  a  year  to  support.  It  released  one  hundred 
and  seventy-four  millions  of  fry  in  1906  and  its  output  in  1908  was 
more  than  two  hundred  millions. 

The  hatchery  consists  of  about  a  dozen  ponds  with  a  fall  of  from 


216  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

four  to  six  feet  between  them,  fed  by  a  small  creek  and  by  springs. 
The  lower  ponds  are  used  for  "  ripening  "  the  salmon.  They  are 
spawned  by  hand.  Ten  weeks  after  the  fry  are  hatched  they  are  fed 
with  tinned  salmon  meat.  When  they  are  freed  they  make  their  way 
into  salt  water  but  do  not  travel  far.  At  the  end  of  the  second  year, 
if  they  survive  their  numerous  enemies  they  are  about  eight  inches 
long,  take  on  bright  scales,  and  are  called  "  smolt."  They  pass  out 
to  sea  between  March  and  June  and  when  they  return  in  the  autumn 
they  are  called  "  grilse  "  and  weigh  four  or  five  pounds.  The  corrals 
in  the  lagoon  of  the  Karluk  Eiver  cover  an  area  of  about  three  acres. 
Here  are  taken  the  "  stock-fish  "  for  ripening.  The  hatching  house 
contains  a  large  number  of  troughs  made  of  red-wood  and  treated  so 
as  to  prevent  all  leakage.  End  to  end  they  would  extend  nearly  a  thou- 
sand feet,  and  accommodate  almost  as  many  salmon.  The  view  from 
the  hatchery  looking  across  Shelikof  Strait  to  the  snow-clad  mountains 
of  Alaska  peninsula  is  particularly  charming  for  those  who  like  bold 
and  wild  scenery. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

EOSAEY   EMERALDS. 

THE  Aleutian  Islands  have  been  compared  to  "  an  emerald  rosary 
on  the  blue  breast  of  Bering  Sea."  Charles  Sumner  speaking 
of  them  in  his  great  Alaska  speech  said  that  they  stretched 
"  far  away  to  Japan  as  if  America  were  extending  a  friendly  hand 
to  Asia."  Kadiak  has  an  attendant  swarm  of  smaller  islands,  like  a 
planet  with  moons.  There  are  Afognak,  Tugidak,  Sitkinak,  Malmot, 
Spruce,  Chirikof  and  Semidi.  Several  of  these  islands  have  been  pre- 
empted for  the  propagation  of  foxes.  About  the  year  1894  the  Semidi 
Propagation  Company  was  organized  to  domesticate  and  raise  foxes. 
The  first  fox  farm  was  stocked  from  the  Pribilof  Islands.  There  are 
now  between  thirty  and  forty  islands  where  this  industry  is  carried 
on.  The  largest  fox  farm  is  on  Long  Island,  one  of  the  Kadiak  group, 
where  there  are  about  a  thousand  blue  foxes.  It  has  been  so  far  found 
impracticable  to  domesticate  the  larger  and  more  valuable  silver-gray 
fox.  The  islands  utilized  for  this  purpose  are  taken  out  from  the  pro- 
visions of  the  homestead  laws.  The  industry  is  proving  a  godsend  for 
the  natives  whose  livelihood  has  been  so  injured  by  the  ruin  of  the  seal 
fisheries. 

The  steamboat  that  visits  Kadiak  strikes  across  southwest  to  the 
little  canning  town  of  Chignik  on  the  mainland.  The  bay  bearing  the 
same  name  is  defended  by  Tuliiumnit  Point,  sometimes  called  Castle 
Cape,  from  its  resemblance  to  "  turrets,  towers  and  domes."  Its  enor- 
mous mass  juts  out  into  the  sea,  gray  streaked  with  rose. 

Still  farther  southwest  are  the  Shumagin  Islands,  so  named  by  Bering 
in  honor  of  a  Russian  sailor  who  died  and  was  buried  on  one  of  them. 
Five  or  six  of  them  are  quite  large.  Unga,  which  lies  nearest  the  penin- 

217 


218  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

sula,  has  several  settlements  and  trading-posts.  The  cod-fisheries  ex- 
tend from  here  in  all  directions.  At  Unga  there  is  a  Eussian  Greek 
church  more  interesting  externally  than  within.  At  Apollo,  three  miles 
away,  there  is  a  productive  mine  owned  by  Californians.  Sandy  Point 
is  notorious  as  the  scene  of  a  murder  worthy  of  being  told  by  Dosto- 
yevsky.  In  a  lonely  house  lived  a  man  who  had  bought  a  young  Aleu- 
tian girl  for  ten  dollars  and  some  tobacco.  When  she  grew  older,  he 
abused  her  as  if  she  were  his  wife.  A  Eussian  half-breed,  named 
Gerasimof,  fell  in  love  with  her  and  urged  her  to  run  away  with  him. 
She  had  not  the  courage.  Gerasimof,  seeing  how  she  was  maltreated, 
killed  the  brutal  man  while  he  was  asleep.  He  was  arrested  and  sen- 
tenced for  life  to  the  penitentiary  on  McNeil's  Island.  The  girl,  freed 
from  terrible  slavery,  showed  her  gratitude  by  marrying  another  man 
within  a  year.  The  lonely  house  where  the  murder  was  committed  is 
deserted ;  the  people  believe  it  to  be  haunted. 

Directly  west  of  Unga  is  Pavlof  Bay,  on  which  is  situated  the  town 
of  Bielkovsky,  which  was  for  many  years  the  centre  of  the  sea-otter 
trade.  The  most  dangerous  of  the  enterprises  of  the  Aleuts  was  to 
catch  this  valuable  little  beast,  for  they  frequent  the  wildest  shores, 
disporting  in  the  roughest  surf,  clinging  to  the  long  whipping  fronds 
of  the  "  sea-otter's  cabbage  "  or  nursing  their  young  on  the  surface 
of  the  water.  They  are  the  shyest  of  sea-creatures.  The  natives,  dar- 
ingly approaching  the  shore  in  their  bidarkas,  used  to  spear  them  with 
ivory-headed  spears.  Sometimes  a  party  of  them  would  go  out  to- 
gether, and  if  an  otter  were  discovered  they  would  combine  to  keep  it 
under  the  water  until  it  was  drowned.  The  sea-otter  cannot  remain 
under  water  without  breathing  for  more  than  twenty  minutes.  The 
moment  it  would  put  its  head  out,  the  Aleut,  on  the  watch,  would  shout 
and  scare  it  under  again  before  it  had  a  chance  to  breathe.  This  op- 
eration might  take  several  hours.  But  the  value  of  the  beautiful  brown 
fur,  especially  silver-tipped  fur  of  the  deep-sea  otter,  justifies  all  risk 
and  all  expenditure  of  time  and  effort.  The  sea-otter  sought  for  by 
the  richest  people  of  Eussia  and  China  is  now  almost  exterminated. 


ROSARY    EMERALDS.  219 

Bielkovsky  has  a  Russian  church  and  resident  priest  or  pop.  Its 
situation  is  delightful,  the  volcano  not  being  too  near,  but  it  is  said  to 
need  a  Hercules  to  cleanse  its  Augean  filth. 

The  long  peninsula  of  Alaska,  with  its  range  of  mountains  and  its 
serrated  bays,  its  volcanoes  and  its  numberless  ponds  draining  into 
the  icy  waters  of  the  northern  seas,  is  separated  by  a  very  narrow  pass 
from  Unimak  Island.  On  this  are  two  active  volcanoes,  Shishaldin 
and  Progomni.  Mrs.  Higginson  goes  into  raptures  over  her  first  sight 
of  Shishaldin  as  she  saw  it  in  the  soft  splendor  of  an  Aleutian  sunset :  — 

' '  In  the  absolute  perfection  of  its  conical  form,  its  chaste  and  delicate 
beauty  of  outline,  and  the  slender  column  of  smoke  pushing  up  from 
its  finely  pointed  crest,  Shishaldin  stands  alone.  Its  height  is  not  great, 
only  nine  thousand  feet;  but  in  any  company  of  loftier  mountains  it 
should  shine  out  with  a  peerlessness  that  would  set  it  apart. 

1 1  The  sunset  trembled  upon  the  North  Pacific  Ocean,  changing  hourly 
as  the  evening  wore  on.  Through  scarlet  and  purple  and  gold,  the 
mountain  shone;  through  lavender,  pearl,  and  rose;  growing  ever 
more  distant  and  more  dim,  but  not  less  beautiful.  At  last  it  could 
barely  be  seen,  in  a  flood  of  rich  violet  mist,  just  touched  with  rose.  .  .  . 
The  sea  breaks  into  surf  upon  Shishaldin 's  base,  and  snow  covers  the 
slender  cone  from  summit  to  sea-level,  save  for  a  month  or  two  in  sum- 
mer when  it  melts  around  the  base.  Owing  to  the  mists,  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  obtain  a  sharp  negative  of  Shishaldin  from  the  water. 

' '  They  played  with  it  constantly.  They  wrapped  soft-colored  scarfs 
about  its  crest ;  they  wound  girdles  of  purple  and  gold  and  pearl  about 
its  middle ;  they  set  rayed  gold  upon  it,  like  a  crown.  Now  and  then, 
for  a  few  seconds  at  a  time,  they  drew  away  completely,  as  if  to  con- 
template its  loveliness ;  and  then,  as  if  overcome  and  compelled  by  its 
dazzling  brilliance,  they  flung  themselves  back  upon  it  impetuously, 
and  crushed  it  for  several  moments  completely  from  our  view." 

Ships  from  Nome  have  to  go  to  the  westward  of  Unimak  Island  by 
a  broad  pass  separating  it  from  Akun  Island.  Still  another  frequently 
used  is  Akutan  pass  which  separates  Akutan  from  Unalaska,  the  largest 


220  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

of  the  hundred  Aleutian  Islands.  Unalaska,  which  is  spelled  in  a  dozen 
different  ways,  and  was  originally  Iliuliuk,  means  "  curving  beach." 
Unalaska  belongs  to  the  Lisui  or  Fox  Islands.  Its  harbor  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world,  being  completely  surrounded  by  lofty 
mountains  and  affording  anchorage  for  the  largest  ships.  The  site  of 
the  Bussian  church  is  beautiful.  Above  it  towers  the  mountain  Maku- 
shin,  with  its  flag  of  white  steaming  smoke.  The  bay  contracts  and 
then  spreads  out  into  an  inland  sea  filling  a  deep  valley  in  the  island. 
Mrs.  Higginson  calls  it  "  one  great  sparkling  sapphire,  set  deep  in 
solid  emerald  and  pearl."  In  the  vicinity  of  the  volcano  is  a  sulphur 
hot  spring  from  which  loud  cannon-like  reports  are  frequently  heard, 
causing  the  natives  to  believe  that  the  mountains  were  engaged  in  a 
dreadful  war.  Chirikof  first  discovered  Unalaska  in  September,  1744. 
Stepan  Glottof  traded  with  the  natives  and  found  them  friendly;  he 
procured  some  black  foxes  and  carried  them  to  Kamchatka;  but  an- 
other Promuishlenik  named  Korovin,  on  attempting  to  settle  there, 
was  driven  away.  Grlottof  came  to  his  assistance,  but  not  until  Soloviof 
appeared  and  massacred  them  mercilessly  were  they  reduced  to  passive 
submission. 

Captain  Cook  in  1778  visited  Unalaska  and  exchanged  courtesies 
with  the  Eussian  commander.  The  Eussian  settlement  was  at  Iliuliuk 
and  consisted  of  thirty  Eussians.  They  had  a  dwelling-house  and  two 
storehouses.  Cook  gave  a  good  account  of  the  natives,  regarding  them 
as  the  gentlest  and  most  inoffensive  people  he  had  ever  met  with  and 
patterns  of  honesty.  He  described  them  as  of  low  stature,  plump,  and 
well  formed,  dark-eyed,  and  dark-haired.  The  women  wore  a  single 
loose-fitting  sealskin  garment  and  deformed  their  lips  with  bone  labrets. 
The  men  wore  a  garment  made  of  bird-skins,  feathers  turned  inward, 
and  over  this  a  translucent  garment  made  of  walrus  gut.  On  their 
heads  they  wore  "  oval-snouted  "  caps,  dyed  in  colors  and  decorated 
with  glass  beads.  The  natives  lived  in  bardbaras  made  of  earth  and 
stones  filled  into  a  frame-work  of  drift-wood  or  whale  ribs,  the 
whole  covered  with  sods.  The  smoke  escaped  and  the  people  entered 


ROSARY    EMERALDS.  223 

through  a  square  opening  in  the  roof,  which  was  reached  by  means  of 
a  ladder  or  from  the  inside  by  a  notched  pole.  Around  the  walls  were 
low  shelves  covered  with  mats  or  skins  and  here  the  inhabitants  sat 
or  slept.  Sometimes  several  of  these  bardbaras  were  connected  to- 
gether and  as  they  were  occupied  by  a  number  of  people  and  were 
warmed  by  rude  oil  lamps  with  grass  for  wicks,  or  by  a  smoking  fire,  the 
atmosphere  may  be  imagined  as  beyond  description.  Their  only  tools 
were  a  knife  and  hatchet ;  their  meagre  household  furniture  consisted 
of  a  few  bowls,  spoons,  cans,  and  baskets,  and  possibly  a  Russian  pot 
or  two. 

They  had  not  regular  chiefs  but  their  best  huntsmen  had  the  most 
influence  and  the  greatest  number  of  wives.  The  saintly  Veniaminof 
charged  them  with  an  inclination  toward  sensuality  which  he  confessed 
was  increased  by  the  bad  example  and  worse  teachings  of  the  early 
Russian  settlers  who  taught  them  to  indulge  in  drunkenness.  He  recog- 
nized their  good  qualities,  their  patience  under  injury  or  offence,  their 
honesty,  their  inward  sensitiveness,  their  tenderness  to  their  children, 
their  truthfulness  and  simplicity,  their  hospitality  and  generosity. 

This  generosity  seems  to  be  characteristic  of  most  of  the  Alaskans. 
Judge  McKenzie  tells  a  story  which  seems  to  illustrate  it.  At  a  settle- 
ment on  the  Koyukuk,  nearly  a  hundred  miles  beyond  the  Arctic  Circle, 
a  poor  old  Kobulk  called  Peter  saw  a  cartoon  in  which  Uncle  Sam  was 
represented  as  barefooted.  When  he  learned  that  it  was  a  picture  of 
the  * '  great  White  Father  ' '  at  Washington,  he  pointed  to  the  bare  feet 
and  said :  — 

11  No  moccasins?  " 

"  No,"  said  the  trader  in  whose  store  the  cartoon  was  displayed, 
"  Uncle  Sam  hasn't  moccasins." 

Peter  looked  distressed  and  went  away  without  saying  anything.  A 
few  days  later  he  came  back  bringing  a  pair  of  moccasins  and  pointing 
to  the  cartoon  said :  — 

* '  Moccasins :  send  Uncle  Sam. ' ' 

Unalaska  was  formerly  a  port  of  entry  for  all  vessels  entering  or 


224  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

leaving  Bering  Bay,  the  rendezvous  for  the  Arctic  whaling  fleet  and 
the  anchorage  for  the  American  and  British  gunboats  that  were  after 
illicit  sealers.  During  the  early  days  of  the  Klondike  excitement  hun- 
dreds of  miners  landed  there  while  waiting  for  transportation  to  the 
Yukon.  There  is  a  large  Eussian  church  with  which  a  successful  parish 
school  is  connected.  The  only  white  women  resident  in  the  village  are 
at  the  Jessie  Lee  Home,  a  Methodist  mission  which  has  accomplished 
much  in  training  the  young  people  for  useful  work. 

Unalaska  furnishes  excursions  of  unusual  interest.  About  two  miles 
away,  reached  by  a  fascinating  walk,  is  Dutch  Harbor,  formerly  called 
Lincoln  Harbor,  where  the  North  American  Company  has  a  station 
with  framed  cottages,  all  painted  white  with  red  roofs,  neat  and  pros- 
perous and  prosaic!  Only  a  few  miles  away  is  the  neat  little  village 
of  Blorka  on  the  shores  of  Samganuda  or  English  Harbor,  where  Cap- 
tain Cook  anchored  and  repaired  his  ships.  On  the  western  coast, 
thirty  miles  away,  is  Makushin  Harbor,  where  Glottof  first  landed.  The 
view  from  the  summit  of  the  volcano  is  magnificent.  It  is  not  a  difficult 
climb. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

A   MOUNTAIN    OF    FIEE. 

DIRECTLY  west  of  Unalaska,  directly  north  of  the  neighboring 
island  of  Umnak,  is  the  marvellous  and  ever  changing  ocean 
volcano  named  after  Saint  John  the  Evangelist  —  loann  Bo- 
goslof.  It  was  originally  an  isolated  rock  famous  among  the  Aleuts 
as  a  populous  resort  for  seals  and  sea-lions.  In  1795  a  peculiar  fog 
seemed  to  hang  over  this  rock  and  filled  the  natives  with  a  vague  alarm. 
A  bold  seal  hunter  approached  the  rock  with  the  design  of  catching 
some  sea-lions.  He  returned  in  haste,  reporting  that  the  sea  around 
the  rock  was  boiling  hot  and  the  supposed  fog  was  steam.  No  one  any 
longer  dared  go  there  for  fear  of  spirits.  After  a  long  time  the  fog 
cleared  away  and  a  high  peak  was  discovered  with  smoking  top.  In 
1806  natives  so  far  conquered  their  terror  as  to  approach  it  in  their 
bidarkas  and  they  reported  that  melted  stone  was  running  down  the 
sides. 

The  resident  agent  of  the  Russian- American  Company  witnessed  the 
first  eruption  from  the  northern  shore  of  Umnak.  A  storm  occurred, 
but  when  the  weather  moderated  a  column  of  fine  rock  dust  rose  high 
in  the  offing.  At  night  there  appeared  such  a  bright  glow  or  incandes- 
cence that  it  was  almost  as  light  as  day.  Stones  were  hurled  into  the 
air  and  some  fell  on  Umnak.  At  sunrise  the  cause  of  the  disturbance 
was  seen :  —  a  new  black  island  which  looked  like  a  cap. 

Four  years  later  it  had  ceased  smoking  but  eight  years  after  that 
the  ground  was  still  so  hot  that  the  sea-lions  could  not  walk  on  it.  In 
1817  it  was  estimated  to  have  attained  a  circumference  of  two  miles 
and  a  half  and  a  height  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  The  natives 
called  it  Agashagok. 

225 


226  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

In  1820  smoke  but  no  fire  was  seen;  it  was  haunted  by  sea-lions. 
THe  circumference  was  about  four  miles ;  its  height  five  hundred  feet. 
Others  gave  its  height  as  twenty-five  hundred  feet.  Tebrakof  (in 
1832)  thought  its  altitude  was  fifteen  hundred  feet.  Ball  in  1873 
set  its  height  at  eight  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  It  was  rapidly  disin- 
tegrating. 

In  September,  1883,  Captain  Anderson  of  the  schooner  Matthew 
Turner  passing  saw  the  new  volcano  in  active  eruption  throwing  out 
heated  rock,  smoke,  steam,  and  ashes,  some  of  them  from  fissures  be- 
neath the  level  of  the  sea.  A  month  later  the  schooner  Dora  was  pass- 
ing and  her  captain,  whose  name  was  Hague,  approached  within  a 
mile,  noting  the  black  smoke  as  if  from  burning  tar  mixed  with  flames 
and  red  hot  rocks.  That  same  month  volcanic  dust  fell  heavily  at  Una- 
laska.  The  new  volcano  proved  to  be  a  larger  island  than  Bogoslof. 
Mr.  Dall  named  it  Grewingk  after  the  Eussian  explorer.  Its  steep  cone 
rose  to  a  height  of  perhaps  twelve  hundred  feet.  In  1884  the  revenue 
steamer  Corwin  reached  the  vicinity  and  four  men  were  detailed  to  go 
ashore  and  investigate.  They  put  the  height  of  the  new  volcano  at  five 
hundred  feet  or  less.  They  found  it  impossible  to  climb  the  peak  owing 
to  the  heat  and  the  sulphurous  fumes.  The  cone  was  covered  with  a 
thin  layer  of  ashes  crusted  by  rain.  The  explorers  sank  ankle  deep 
through  the  crust  and  were  choked  by  the  impalpable  dust.  The  tem- 
perature half  way  to  the  top  was  one  hundred  and  ninety  degrees.  A 
thermometer  made  to  register  two  hundred  and  sixty  degrees  exploded 
when  put  into  a  crevice.  The  two  islands  were  connected  by  a  spit 
from  which  rose  a  tower-like  rock  eighty-seven  feet  high.  Barnacles 
on  its  side  showed  that  it  had  been  recently  elevated. 

A  week  later  Lieutenant  M.  Stoney  of  the  United  States  Navy  spent 
several  days  in  the  vicinity  taking  soundings  and  making  observations. 
He  recorded  many  earthquake  shocks,  as  well  as  rumbling  sounds  and 
a  roar  like  distant  cannon.  The  summit  was  hidden  by  masses  of  black 
and  whitish  smoke  and  the  sea  seemed  to  be  boiling. 

In  1885  Captain  Healy  of  the  Corwin  reported  that  the  summit  from 


A    MOUNTAIN    OF    FIRE.  227 

the  north  end  was  enveloped  in  a  bright  sulphurous  light  which  shone 
out  against  the  sky  and  made  a  wonderfully  impressive  spectacle. 

Prof.  C.  Hart  Merriam  saw  it  in  1891  from  the  Albatross.  He 
says : — 

"  The  night  was  densely  foggy,  as  usual  in  Bering  Sea  in  summer, 
and  the  early  morning  brought  no  change.  The  ship  was  feeling  her 
way  cautiously  with  no  land  in  sight,  when  suddenly,  about  seven 
o'clock,  the  fog  lifted  and  we  saw,  directly  ahead  and  hardly  a  mile 
away,  the  bold  front  of  the  new  volcano.  We  felt  a  thrill  of  excitement, 
as  the  precipitous  cliffs  of  the  northern  end  broke  through  the  fog,  fol- 
lowed by  a  fierce  rush  of  escaping  steam,  whose  roar,  when  the  engines 
stopped,  drowned  all  other  noises,  not  excepting  the  cries  of  the  myriads 
of  seabirds  which  swarmed  about  the  rocks  like  bees  about  a  hive." 
The  steamship  ran  aground  on  a  reef  which  rose  precipitately  out  of 
twenty  fathoms  of  water,  but  backing  off  successfully  anchored  in  the 
bay  on  the  east  side.  Prof.  Merriam  thought  the  island  did  not  in  any 
way  suggest  a  volcano,  there  being  no  cone  and  no  true  crater.  But 
there  were  cracks  and  crannies  and  great  fissures  from  which  sulphur- 
ous steam  was  issuing  with  a  deafening  roar.  In  1895,  the  island  had 
decreased  in  height,  its  top  had  become  greatly  flattened  and  the  spit 
connecting  the  two  had  disappeared.  This  rock,  whose  history  has  been 
known  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  since  it  was  first  described 
in  1768  as  a  huge  rock,  fell  in  1888  or  1889  and  in  1890  its  site  was 
marked  by  a  cluster  of  small  islands  or  shoals. 

The  changes  that  take  place  at  Bogoslof  are  so  bewildering  that  it 
is  safe  to  say  no  two  visitors  ever  see  it  alike.  By  the  end  of  the  last 
century  the  island  had  so  cooled  that  animal  life  was  again  abundant 
there.  The  cliffs  were  filled  with  the  black-headed,  white-bellied  murres 
laying  their  eggs  in  every  cranny.  Professor  C.  Hart  Merriam  gives  an 
animated  description  of  the  visit  which  he  and  some  of  his  crew  made 
to  the  eastern  spit  in  July,  1899.  A  large  number  of  sea-lions  had 
congregated  there.  As  the  boat  drew  near  the  shore  they  grew  restless 
and  alarmed.  The  cows  took  to  the  water ;  the  bulls  roared  and  moved 


228  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

down  to  the  beach.  Several  big  yellow  bulls,  * '  big  as  oxen  and  much 
longer  ' '  came  toward  the  boat,  bellowing  fearfully.  Others  stood  and 
roared,  surging  their  huge  heads.  "  Most  of  the  young,  accompanied 
by  more  than  one  hundred  cows  and  as  many  bulls,  took  refuge  in  the 
pond  near  the  shore.  They  were  now  thoroughly  frightened  and  rushed 
through  the  shallow  pool  in  wild  confusion,  making  the  water  surge  and 
boil  and  throwing  the  spray  high  in  the  air.  Finally,  as  if  by  concerted 
action,  all  of  the  old  sea-lions  made  a  break  for  the  far  side  of  the  pond 
and  stampeded  for  the  sea,  where  another  absorbing  scene  was  being 
enacted. 

"  Dozens  of  adults,  apparently  cows  and  middle  aged  males,  were 
sporting  like  porpoises  in  the  breakers,  moving  side  by  side  in  schools 
of  six  or  eight,  and  shooting  completely  out  of  the  water.  These  small 
squads  behaved  like  well-drilled  soldiers,  keeping  abreast,  breaking 
water  simultaneously,  making  their  flying  leap  in  the  air  side  by  side, 
and  taking  the  next  water  together.  This  they  repeated  again  and 
again,  evidently  finding  it  great  sport.  It  was  a  marvellous  sight  and 
one  to  be  long  remembered. " 

In  1907  the  two  peaks  had  become  four  and  in  August  a  violent  earth- 
quake was  followed  by  an  eruption  which  was  so  violent  that  ashes  fell 
as  far  north  as  Nome,  and  covered  the  decks  of  passing  vessels  to  the 
depth  of  several  inches.  The  whaler  Herman  was  passing  the  Bogoslof 
Islands  on  September  first  and  the  captain  and  crew  saw  the  third  peak 
disappear  before  their  very  eyes,  while  vast  columns  of  steam  ascended 
miles  into  the  air  and  the  water  boiled  like  a  tea-kettle.  Earthquake 
shocks  were  felt  as  far  as  Sitka  and  new  rocks  came  to  the  surface  all 
along  the  Aleutian  coast. 

This  year  very  great  changes  were  reported;  the  water  around  the 
islands  was  so  hot  as  to  be  unbearable.  The  rise  and  transformation 
of  these  volcanic  islands  is  thought  to  throw  a  bright  light  on  the  for- 
mation of  the  whole  Aleutian  group  of  islands  and  mountains.  They 
are  evidently  all  volcanic  and  have  been  thrown  up  within  recent  geo- 
logic periods.  Certainly  nothing  since  the  eruption  of  Krakatoa  and 


A    MOUNTAIN    OF    FIRE.  229 

the  destruction  of  Pelee  has  been  more  instructive  as  regards  the  build- 
ing of  the  world  than  the  birth  of  Bogoslof  and  Grewingk.  Beyond 
Umnak  the  Aleutian  Islands  in  three  groups  —  the  Andreanof ,  the  Is- 
lands of  the  Four  Mountains,  and  the  Eat  Islands  —  still  stretch  out 
into  the  Northern  Pacific.  The  very  last  in  the  group  is  called  Attu. 
Here,  and  at  Atka,  largest  of  the  Andreanof  group,  are  made  the  bas- 
kets most  prized  by  connoisseurs.  Attu  was  discovered  in  1745  by  a 
reckless  sea-otter  huntsman,  Mikhail  Novidskof,  who,  in  a  small  open 
boat,  made  his  way  across  those  dangerous  seas  from  the  next  Kam- 
chatkan  group.  The  next  step  was  the  longest  —  the  wide  passage 
from  the  Blizhni  or  Near  Islands  of  which  Attu  is  the  largest  across 
to  the  Rat  Islands.  From  there  the  course  eastward  was  compara- 
tively simple,  one  island  being  easily  visible  from  the  other. 

In  those  early  days  it  was  estimated  that  the  Aleutian  Islands  had 
a  population  of  perhaps  thirty  thousand.     At  the  beginning  of  this 
century  it  is  regarded  as  doubtful  if  there  are  fifteen  hundred  all  told. 
In  1865  there  were  known  to  be  in  the  eighteen  hundred  miles  between 
Unalaska  and  Attu  only  three  small  native  settlements  aggregating 
less  than  five  hundred  natives  with  six  or  seven  white  men.    As  the 
Kuro  Siwo,  called  the  Black  Current,  because  it  is  darker  than  the  ocean 
through  which  it  flows,  reaches  these  groups  of  islands  it  greatly  modi- 
fies the  climate.     Part  of  it  turns  to  the  eastward  and  carries  with 
it  the  warm  moist  atmosphere  which  makes  the  climate  of  Alaska  so 
foggy  and  favorable  to  green  vegetation,  at  the  same  time  condens- 
ing on  the  mountains  forms  the  tremendous  snowfall  so  favorable  for 
the  growth  of  glaciers;    the  other  part  passes  northward  into  the 
Bering  Sea,  often  carrying  with  it  large  icebergs.    The  average  winter 
climate  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  though  it  corresponds  to  the  latitude 
of  Labrador,  is  above  freezing.    For  the  six  colder  months,  from  Oc- 
tober to  March,  the  mean  temperature  at  Unalaska  is  slightly  above 
thirty-four.    On  the  other  hand  the  July  temperature  at  the  same  place 
averages  only  fifty.    It  is  quite  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that 
in  the  days  to  come  the  former  haunts  of  this  peaceable,  patient  race 


230  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

will  be  again  populous,  that  the  thousands  of  miles  of  coast,  so  free 
from  ice-blockade,  may  be  lined  with  prosperous  cities  and  towns,  and 
that  a  new  civilization  may  be  built  up,  conditioned  by  the  soft  atmos- 
phere of  the  misty  Aleutian  chain. 

Mr.  N.  H.  Castle  who  has  lived  in  Alaska  for  many  years  has  this 
to  say  of  its  climate :  — 

"  With  the  lengthening  of  the  days,  the  sun's  visible  journey  be- 
comes longer  and  longer  until  it  reaches  its  maximum;  the  winter's 
snow  melts  fast  before  its  ever  and  rapidly  increasing  intensity.  The 
willows,  tentatively,  thrust  forth  delicate  foliage.  Clear  water  appears 
in  the  streams  between  the  disrupted  surfaces  of  the  ice  and  rivulets 
of  melted  snow  add  their  quota  toward  its  ultimate  effacement.  Life 
and  motion  seem  to  affect  even  inanimate  bodies.  Around  the  bends 
of  the  larger  watercourses,  slowly,  almost  majestically,  turning,  twist- 
ing, upheaving,  rending,  grinding  one  upon  the  other,  floe  after  floe, 
floe  over  floe,  floe  under  floe,  covering  the  entire  width  from  bank  to 
bank,  the  masses  above  meet  the  masses  below,  the  irresistible  impact 
of  millions  of  tons  carries  everything  before  it  to  the  open  sea.  Per- 
haps the  ice  gorges  in  the  river;  the  tremendous  weight  meets  a  for- 
midable but  temporary  obstruction  and  surge  follows  surge,  heaping 
up  a  seemingly  impenetrable  wall;  huge  blocks  are  tossed  far  up  on 
the  shore,  discolored  masses  rent  from  the  river's  bed  mingle  with  the 
clear  ice  that  has  suffered  no  contamination  with  earth,  the  water  backs 
behind  the  surging,  unquiet  barrier  and  overruns  its  ordinary  limits, 
until,  bursting  with  a  roar,  the  magnificent  array  again  proceeds  upon 
its  course  with  its  toll  of  uprooted  trees  and  crumbled  banks. 

"  Such  is  the  break-up,  the  great  spectacular  feature  of  the  North- 
land. Yet  season  after  season  the  ice  may  melt  where  it  forms,  or  pass 
quietly  away  in  small  floes  and  disappoint  the  expectant  sightseer  by 
its  lack  of  ostentatious  display.  Soon  the  only  snow  visible  will  be  the 
scattered  patches  upon  the  hillsides  and  these  may  remain  until  the 
intervening  spaces  are  filled  by  a  fresh  downfall.  The  stretches  of 
tundra  are  dotted  with  miniature  lakes  and  in  places  have  the  appear- 


A    MOUNTAIN    OF    FIRE.  233 

ance  of  carpets  of  graduated  shades  of  green,  interspersed  with  blotches 
of  purple,  to  the  delight  of  the  impressionist. 

"  Then  the  vegetation  seems  to  spring  up  before  one's  very  eyes, 
as  if  it  must  do  its  utmost  in  its  short  season  of  freedom  after  long 
imprisonment.  Grasses  appear  spontaneously;  snapdragons,  the  wild 
rose,  columbines,  buttercups,  larkspur,  violets  blue  and  violets  yellow, 
forget-me-nots,  bluebells,  marigolds  and  hundreds  of  other  varieties 
of  wild  flowers  mature  in  tropical  luxuriance.  "Wild  oats  and  barley 
give  abundant  promise  of  the  day  to  come  when  we  of  the  North  shall 
raise  our  own  cereals.  Berries  in  profusion  cover  the  ground.  The 
deciduous  trees  assume  a  brilliant  foliage  and  the  sombre  tints  of  the 
evergreens  are  tipped  with  brighter  shades.  Geese  and  crane,  wild 
ducks  and  swans,  snipe  and  plover,  in  countless  thousands  return  from 
their  winter  wanderings  and  other  feathered  harbingers  of  spring  glad- 
den the  eye  and  ear,  and  themselves  apparently  rejoice  to  return  to 
their  chosen  summer  resort. 

"As  to  heat,  clear  and  foggy  days,  wind  and  other  elemental  char- 
acteristics, the  Alaskan  summers  vary  largely.  In  June,  July  and 
August  the  thermometer  ranges  between  one  hundred  and  the  forties. 
The  precipitation  varies  from  year  to  year ;  sometimes  the  rain  falling 
in  cloudbursts,  raising  the  creeks,  destroying  dams  and  works  and  in- 
flicting great  damage,  while  in  other  seasons  light  rains  may  maintain 
a  fair  average  of  water  for  mining  purposes;  again,  dry  years  may 
disappoint  the  miner  no  less  than  the  agriculturist  in  other  climes." 


CHAPTER   XXH. 

OUR   IMPERIAL   DOMAIN. 

THE  Alaska- Yukon-Pacific  Exposition  which  was  held  at  Seattle 
during  the  summer  of  1909  undoubtedly  opened  the  eyes  of 
thousands  of  people  to  the  immense  importance  of  our  far  north- 
western territory  so  long  neglected  and  abused.    General  Greely  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  as  lately  as  1905  a  foot  note  to  an  article  in 
a  prominent  magazine  stated  that  the  vast  region  of  Alaska  "  is  in- 
habited by  a  few  savages  and  is  not  likely  ever  to  support  a  population 
enough  to  make  its  government  a  matter  of  practical  consequence. ' ' 

This  utterly  ridiculous  statement  apparently  was  allowed  to  pass  un- 
protested.  The  ever-increasing  tide  of  summer  travel  along  the  north- 
western coast  where  as  Mr.  John  Burroughs  says,  "  day  after  day  a 
panorama  unrolls  before  us  with  features  that  might  have  been  gath- 
ered from  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson,  from  Lake  George,  from  the 
Thousand  Islands,  the  Saguenay,  or  the  Bangeley  Lakes  in  Maine,  with 
the  addition  of  towering  snow-capped  mountains  thrown  in  for  a  back- 
ground," alone  brings  millions  of  dollars  of  traffic  to  the  steamboat 
companies  and  the  Alaskan  towns.  The  compound  interest  on  the  cost 
of  Alaska  for  twenty-five  years  was  estimated  by  a  treasury  agent  as 
twenty-three  million  seven  hundred  and  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  ninety-two  dollars.  If  to  this  be  added  the  expense  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  Department  the  total  cost  he  reckoned  as  more  than  forty- 
three  millions,  and  he  advised  abandoning  the  territory.  General  Greely 
prints  an  instructive  table  showing  the  aggregate  value  of  furs,  fish- 
eries and  minerals  between  1868  and  1908.  The  totals  amounted  to 
three  hundred  and  twenty-seven  million  six  hundred  and  fifty-one  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  ninety-six  dollars.  Had  not  the  selfish  exploi- 

234 


OUR    IMPERIAL    DOMAIN.  235 

tation  of  the  fur-bearing  animals  resulted  in  such  ruin  to  this  industry 
the  amount  would  have  been  far  greater.  General  G-reely  estimates 
that  the  possible  gold  output  of  the  Seward  Peninsula  will  reach  a 
value  of  three  hundred  millions,  of  the  Tanana  water-shed  a  hundred 
millions,  and  other  fields  as  yet  untouched  and  unexplored  will  bring 
the  mining  districts  up  to  a  value  of  five  hundred  millions,  while  the 
coal-tonnage  of  the  territory  is  estimated  at  fifteen  thousand  millions  of 
short  tons.  And  besides  this  there  are  possibilities  of  petroleum,  lead, 
gypsum,  marble,  iron,  quicksilver,  graphite,  and  hosts  of  other  natural 
products  as  yet  scarcely  touched  by  the  prospector.  Then  there  are  the 
actual  values  of  eleven  incorporated  cities,  amounting  to  fifteen  or 
twenty  millions  more.  Railways,  telegraphs  and  hydraulic  ditches  have 
cost  up  into  the  millions  and  the  imports  and  exports  represent  also 
almost  fabulous  sums.  When  the  mineral  resources  begin  to  dwindle 
probably  Alaska  will  go  through  the  same  experience  as  did  California : 
agriculture  will  be  found  to  outweigh  her  gold  production  a  score  of 
times. 

But  even  if  these  roseate  visions  of  future  wealth  from  the  soil  and 
the  earth  be  not  realized,  Alaska  is  going  to  be  more  and  more  the 
playground  of  the  world.  Nowhere  else  is  there  such  a  voyage  possible 
as  from  Seattle  to  Skaguay.  It  was  made  in  the  summer  of  1909  by 
two  professors  and  a  student  in  a  twenty-four  foot  naphtha  launch 
uncovered.  For  two  thousand  miles,  nearly  all  the  way  sheltered  be- 
hind beautiful  wooded  islands  and  with  marvellous  vistas  of  beauty 
and  magnificence  unrolling  before  them  they  made  their  way  into  this 
region  of  enchantment. 

As  yet  Alaska  is  practically  an  unknown  country.  Our  imaginary 
voyage  has  only  skimmed  the  edge  as  it  were.  At  the  present  time 
the  United  States  and  Canada  are  engaged  in  the  foolish  and  unfor- 
tunate business  of  marking  an  imaginary  boundary  between  Alaska  and 
the  Dominion.  As  there  is  no  material  division  between  these  two 
countries,  as  there  is  free  trade  between  Maine  and  California,  so  there 
should  always  be  free  trade  between  the  United  States  and  its  northern 


236  OUR    NORTHERN    DOMAIN. 

neighbor.  What  is  to  the  interest  and  advantage  of  the  one  should 
be  to  the  interest  and  advantage  of  the  other.  A  good  proof  of  this 
is  given  by  Dr.  J.  H.  Moore,  chairman  of  the  meeting  of  the  Arctic 
Brotherhood  in  July,  1909,  when  a  beautiful  building  was  presented 
to  the  University  at  Seattle.  The  speaker,  after  giving  a  humorous 
account  of  the  accidental  formation  of  the  Society  in  1897,  on  a  ship 
bound  north,  —  a  society  which  now  numbers  more  than  seven  thou- 
sand members  —  said :  — 

11  Our  banner  is  a  story  in  itself.  We  had  all  Americans  for  mem- 
bers at  first,  but  soon  we  began  to  take  in  Canadians.  We  were  all  for 
having  the  American  flag  in  the  banner,  but  then,  because  of  the  Cana- 
dian members,  we  thought  it  only  fair  to  have  the  Union  Jack  in  also. 
Both  flags  are  combined  in  the  banner. 

"  All  that  time  there  was  considerable  friction  over  the  boundary 
line.  This  dispute  suggested  the  motto  on  our  banner,  '  No  boundary 
line  here. '  : 

As  it  is,  however,  a  gallant  company  of  skilled  men  are  at  the  present 
time  engaged  in  marking  a  boundary  line  twelve  hundred  miles  long. 
First  there  are  six  hundred  miles  from  the  Portland  Canal  up  the  coast 
to  Mt.  St.  Elias  and  then  six  hundred  miles  from  there  north  to  the 
Arctic  Ocean.  Mr.  Thomas  Eiggs,  Jr.,  the  chief  of  this  part  of  the 
United  States  Alaskan  Boundary  Survey,  says :  — 

' '  All  the  land  lying  along  the  boundary  must  be  mapped  on  an  accu- 
rate scale  and  a  strip  of  topography  four  miles  wide  must  be  run  the 
entire  length  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first  meridian ;  peaks  which 
cannot  be  climbed,  or  rather  which  would  take  too  long  and  would  be 
too  expensive  to  scale,  must  be  determined  geodetically ;  vistas  twenty 
feet  in  width  must  be  cut  through  the  timbered  valleys;  and  monu- 
ments must  be  set  up  on  the  routes  of  travel  and  wherever  a  possible 
need  for  them  may  occur. ' ' 

The  labor  thus  involved  is  almost  unimaginable.  Eivers  of  icy  water 
have  to  be  crossed  and  mounted,  vast  glaciers  have  to  be  conquered, 
heavy  instruments  have  to  be  carried,  swamps  and  unbroken  wilder- 


OUR    IMPERIAL    DOMAIN.  237 

nesses  swarming  with  bloodthirsty  mosquitoes  have  to  be  penetrated, 
provisions  have  to  be  looked  after.  During  one  single  season  the  two 
parties  located  main  points  on  the  boundary  for  eighty-five  miles,  com- 
pleted seventy-seven  miles  of  triangulation,  a  topographical  belt  sixty- 
five  miles  long,  cut  forty  miles  of  vista,  ran  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
of  levels  and  established  seventeen  monuments  of  aluminum  bronze, 
each  five  feet  high  and  set  in  a  concrete  base  weighing  three  quarters 
of  a  ton. 

While  this  is  going  on  along  the  inward  boundary  the  Coast  Survey 
has  been  awakened  to  the  need  of  surveying  the  coast.  Owing  to  its 
sinuosities,  that  signifies  making  careful  maps  of  a  coast  line  estimated 
at  twenty-six  thousand  miles.  The  season  is  short,  lasting  only  from 
May  to  October,  and  during  this  time  there  are  always  a  great  many 
annoying  interruptions,  the  storms  that  suddenly  come  up,  and  the 
fogs  that  are  so  prevalent  on  the  northwest  coast. 

As  yet  the  charting  of  the  bays  and  inlets  is  very  imperfectly  done ; 
there  is  a  great  lack  of  suitable  lighthouses  and  buoys ;  ships  that  nav- 
igate those  waters  run  the  risk  of  striking  hidden  rocks,  rocks  too  that 
may  have  been  recently  thrown  up  by  some  subterranean  convulsion. 
But  the  time  is  coming  when  this  great  and  necessary  work  will  be 
completed  and  the  channels  and  bays  from  Seattle  to  Point  Barrow  will 
be  as  perfectly  known  as  those  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 

Each  year  a  larger  number  will  learn  about  this  magical  territory; 
each  year  new  bands  of  tourists  will  seek  its  marvellous  panorama  of 
glittering  mountains  and  its  rivers  of  flexile  ice.  No  one  who  ever  goes 
to  Alaska  fails  to  be  impressed  with  the  majesty  of  nature  there  dis- 
played, and  to  rejoice  that  fifty  years  ago  there  were  a  few  statesmen 
far-sighted  enough  to  see  the  possibilities  of  that  distant  boreal  land. 
All  honor  to  Seward  and  Sumner  and  the  rest  of  the  devoted  congress- 
men who  put  that  splendid  measure  through  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
of  purblind,  narrow-minded  Ignorance ! 

THE   END. 


RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


24Nov'b<yc 

IN  STACKS 

NOV101962 

REC'D  LD 

DEC    3-4^ 

I 

H^JSL^                Jk 

1 

IHf  v 
!**• 

• 

REC'D  LD  APR  2 

171  -10  AM  07 

LD  21A-50m-3,'62 
(C7097slO)476B 

General  Library 
University  of  California 
Berkeley 

00681 


271853 


' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


' 


